Saturday, August 26, 2006

Target Lebanon: The Untold Story, the fourth installment of Apocalypse Now: The U.S. and Israeli Master Plan for the Middle East is available on the program archive of the Taking Aim website: http://www.takingaim.info

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We just called to say we're listeningGreat little flash filmhttp://www.newsday.com/media/flash/2006-06/23671673.swfLots more at:http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-walt-handelsman-story,0,6454031.htmlstory

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A Brief History of Those Who Made Their Point Politelyand Then Went Home by Kevin Higgins

On this day of tear-gas in Seouland windows broken at Dickins & Jones,I can't help wondering why a historyof those, who made their point politelyand then went home, has never been written.

Those who, in the heat of the moment,never dislodged a policeman's helmet,never blocked the traffic or held the country to ransom.Someone should ask them: "Was it all worth it?"

All those proud men and women, who neverhad the National Guard sent in against them;who left everything exactly as they found it,without adding as much as a scratch to the paintwork;who no-one bothered asking: "Are you or have you ever been?"because we all knew damn well they never ever were.

from 'The Boy With No Face' published by Salmon Poetry(2005) http://www.salmonpoetry.com/theboy.html

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SCROLL DOWN TO READ:EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTSGENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTSARTICLES IN FULLLINKS ONLY

Mumia Abu-Jamal Is In DangerRally In Oakland To FREE MUMIA!4 PM Friday September 15th 2006, Alameda County Courthouse, 12th and Fallon Sts, south sideMumia Abu-Jamal Is Innocent! For Labor Action To Free Mumia! End the Racist Death Penalty!

Award-winning journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal has been on death row for almost a quarter of a century, for a crime he didn't commit. The State of Pennsylvania still wants to execute him, and his case has been put on a "fast track" to a final resolution.

What may be his last appeal is now before the 3rd Circuit Court. But we cannot rely on the courts to free Mumia; the courts are still refusing to hear MOUNTAINS of evidence which conclusively shows his innocence!

In 1995, we mobilized by the thousands to save Mumia from a date with death. In 1999, longshore workers shut down West Coast ports to free Mumia. In 2006, it's time to get back into action to free Mumia!

The victim of a politically motivated frame-up of monumental proportions, Mumia is an anti-war, anti-imperialist, social justice spokesman with the courage to defy the system from his jail cell despite a determined conspiracy to silence him forever. Known as the "Voice of the Voiceless," Mumia is the first to point out that his case is just one among many injustices of this racist, capitalist system.

Perpetrated by notoriously racist and corrupt Philadelphia police and prosecutors, the frame-up of Mumia Abu-Jamal is supported by leading elements in both the Democrat and Republican parties. The US ruling class is so committed to murdering this "dangerous" inspirational figure that a resolution--full of lies about Mumia's case--has been introduced in Congress to demand that the city of St Denis, France re-name a street which was dubbed "Rue Mumia Abu-Jamal" in a recent ceremony!

In the US, Mumia Abu-Jamal has been made the "poster boy" for maintaining the death penalty by the powerful few. But to the world, Mumia is a hero and symbol of resistance to racist oppression and injustice.

All those who are involved in social justice movements should help champion his freedom and publicize actions for his freedom.

*organization listed for purposes of identification only. (Endorsers support FREE MUMIA and the three slogans listed above. They do not necessarily agree with any other statement in this announcement or with any other LAC statement.)

Endorse the rally! Send your individual or organizational endorsement by return email to LACFreeMumia@aol.com, or write to LAC at PO Box 16222, Oakland CA 94610. Let us know if you can help build the rally!

Mumia's legal defense needs funds in this critical time. Please help! Make checks payable to: Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, and send them to: PO Box 16222, Oakland CA 94610. Seventy-five percent (75%) of all contributions received under this appeal will go directly to Mumia's legal defense fund. The remainder will support the work of the LAC.

For more information on Mumia's case, go to the following web sites: www.mumia.org, www.freemumia.org, www.chicagofreemumia.org, www.laboractionmumia.org.

- Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

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Global Chalk4Peace Sept 16/17th OUR STREETS are OUR MEDIAWE have TOTAL accessWe CAN Make THE DifferenceON THE WEEKEND OF SEPTEMBER 16 & 17th Chalk4Peace!On the pavements and sidewalks of our towns and citiesYou are invited to Take Action!To Participate in this GLOBAL outpouring of public art. Where we makeour personal statements for peace on the pavements and sidewalks ofour cities all over our world.http://www.infinitepossibility.org/chalk2006/

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CELEBRATE MEXICAN-LATIN AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE DAYRALLY FOR GENERAL AND UNCONDITIONAL AMNESTY FOR ALL!SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH, 1:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M.24TH AND MISSION STREETSAN FRANCISCO, CAPEOPLE UNITED FOR GENERAL AMNESTYFOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: 415-431-9925(Permit pending)

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Free the Cuban Five!September 23, 2006Washington, DCBreaking News...On Aug. 9, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its en banc decision denying a new trial to the Cuban Five. On August 10, the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, together with the National Lawyers Guild, sponsored an emergency press conference in Washington in response to the decision. A partial transcript to that press conference, in English and Spanish, is here.A March on the White House will be held on September 23 to continue to press forward with efforts to free the Five. We urge all supporters to make every effort to join us on that march. A public demonstration of support for the Five, and outrage at their continued imprisonment, has never been more vital. Details of the march are found at thewebsite below.Join us in Washington on Sept. 23! Free the Cuban Five!http://www.freethefive.org/

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U.S. Out of Iraq Now! We Are the Majority!End Colonial Occupation from Iraq, to Palestine, Haiti, and Everywhere!October 28 National Day of ActionLocally Coordinated Anti-War Protests from Coast to CoastVote With Your Feet … and Your Voices, and Banners, and Signs!Let Every Politician Feel the Power of the People! http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=7836

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October 28 National Day of ActionLocally Coordinated Anti-War Protests from Coast to CoastVote With Your Feet … and Your Voices, and Banners, and Signs!Let Every Politician Feel the Power of the People! http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=7836 http://www.actionsf.org/http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=7869

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End Canada's Occupation of Afghanistan!Call for action on October 28, 2006

This call for a pan-Canadian day of action, co-signed by the Canadian Peace Alliance, the Canadian Islamic Congress, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Montreal coalition Echec a la Guerre, is being distributed and discussed at the World Peace Forum now taking place in Vancouver. -SV The Collectif Échec à la guerre, Canadian Peace Alliance, the Canadian Labour Congress, and the Canadian Islamic Congress are jointly calling for a pan-Canadian day of protest this October 28th, 2006, to bring Canadian troops home from Afghanistan.

On that day, people all across the country will unite to tell Stephen Harper that we are opposed to his wholehearted support for Canadian and U.S. militarism. This October marks the fifth anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, and the people of that country are still suffering from the ravages of war. Reconstruction in the country is at a standstill and the needs of the Afghan people are not being met. The rule of the new Afghan State, made up largely of drug running warlords, will not realize the democratic aspirations of the people there. In fact, according to Human Rights Watch reports, the human rights record of those warlords in recent years has not been better than the Taliban.

We are told that the purpose of this war is to root out terrorism and protect our societies, yet the heavy-handed approach of a military occupation trying to impose a US-friendly government on the Afghan people will force more Afghans to become part of the resistance movement. It will also make our societies more -- not less -- likely to see terrorist attacks.

No discussion on military tactics in the House of Commons will change that reality. Indeed, violence is increasing with more attacks on both coalition troops and on Afghan civilians. While individual Canadian soldiers may have gone to Afghanistan with the best of intentions, they are operating under the auspices of a US-led state building project that cares little or the needs of the Afghan people. US and Canadian interests rest with the massive $3.2 billion Trans Afghan Pipeline (TAP) project, which will bring oil from the Caspian region through southern Afghanistan (where Canada is stationed) and onto the ports of Pakistan.

It has been no secret that the TAP has dominated US foreign policy towards Afghanistan for the last decade. Now Canadian oil and gas corporations have their own interests in the TAP. Over the last decade, the role of the Canadian Armed Forces abroad has changed, and Canadian foreign policy has become a replica of the US empire-building rhetoric. The end result of this process is now plain to see with the role of our troops in Southern Afghanistan, with the enormous budget increases for war expenditures and "security," with the Bush-style speeches of Stephen Harper, and with the fear campaigns around "homegrown terrorism" to foster support for those nefarious changes.

It is this very course that will get young Canadian soldiers killed, that will endanger our society and consume more and more of its resources for destruction and death in Afghanistan. We demand a freeze in defense and security budgets until an in-depth public discussion is held on those issues across Canada. The mission in Afghanistan has already cost Canadians more than $4 billion. That money could have been used to fund human needs in Canada or abroad. Instead it is being used to kill civilians in Afghanistan and advance the interests of corporations.

On October 28th, stand up and be counted. Canadian Troops Out of Afghanistan Now!

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San Francisco Board of Education MeetingTuesday, November 14th, 7PM555 Franklin Street, 1st FloorSan Francisco, CA 94102415/241-6427The Board will vote on a resolution to phase out JROTC.

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SIR! NO SIR!I urge everyone to get a copy of "Sir! No Sir!" at:http://www.sirnosir.com/It is an extremely informative and powerful filmof utmost importance today. I was a participantin the anti-Vietnam war movement. What a powerful thing it was to see troops in uniformleading the march against the war! If you wouldlike to read more here are two very goodpublications:

Out Now!: A Participant's Account of the Movement in the United States Against the Vietnam War by Fred Halstead (Hardcover - Jun 1978)

and:

GIs speak out against the war;: The case of the Ft. Jackson 8; by Fred Halstead (Unknown Binding - 1970).

Both available at:http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/103-1123166-0136605?search-alias=books&rank=+availability,-proj-total-margin&field-author=Fred%20Halstead

SUPPORT "TAKING AIM":KPFA RADIO is considering airing the very informative program,"Taking Aim," produced by Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone. Weencourage everyone who has heard and appreciated this showto contact KPFA's Tracy Rose and let her know you want the show to air:

tracyrose@gmail.com

Here's my letter:

In solidarity,Bonnie Weinstein

Dear Tracy,

The program, "Taking Aim", with Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shoneis a one-of-a-kind, powerfully informative program. Schoenmanand Shone are leading experts in the history of the Middle East withyears of experience living in the region. They are both importantreporters for news that the mainstream media tries to hide ordistort. "Taking Aim" would be a very valuable addition to the fineprograming already on KPFA.

More importantly, the information disseminating from this program and the serious work of Schoenman and Shone, provide invaluable factsthat KPFA listeners need to hear--truth that is told nowhere else.

The more in-depth information that is made available to the generalpublic--your listeners--from "Taking Aim" will help to further educate your well-informed audience.

I strongly urge you to add this program to your broadcasts.

In my opinion, "Taking Aim" and the work of Schoenman and Shone compares well with Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now." I wish it couldbe on every day.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against Warwww.bauaw.org

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END ALL U.S. AID TO ISRAEL!Stop funding Israel's war against PalestineComplete the form at the website listed below with your information.Personalize the message text on the right with your own words, if you wish.Click the Next Step button to send your letter to these decision makers:President George W. BushVice President Richard 'Dick' B. CheneyYour SenatorsYour RepresentativeGo here to register your outrage:https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr003=cga2p2o6x1.app2a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=177

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Idriss Stelley Foundation is in critical financial crisis, please help !ISF is in critical financial crisis, and might be forced to close its doors in a couple of months due to lack of funds to cover DSL, SBC and utilities, which is a disaster for our numerous clients, since the are the only CBO providing direct services to Victims (as well as extended failies) of police misconduct for the whole city of SF. Any donation, big or small will help us stay alive until we obtain our 501-c3 nonprofit Federal Status! Checks can me made out to ISF, ( 4921 3rd St , SF CA 94124 ). Please consider to volunteer or apply for internship to help covering our 24HR Crisis line, provide one on one couseling and co facilitate our support groups, M.C a show on SF Village Voice, insure a 2hr block of time at ISF, moderate one of our 26 websites for ISF clients !http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/idrissstelleyfoundation/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/isf23/Report Police Brutality24HR Bilingual hotline(415) 595-8251http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Asa/

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Sign the petition to save Bayview Hunters Point: No more Fillmore! Editorial by Willie Ratcliff, http://www.sfbayview.com/060706/signthepetition060706.shtml As urban Black displacement grows, Bayview kicks off referendum drive to stop Redevelopment by Randy Shaw, http://www.sfbayview.com/060706/displacement060706.shtml Hands off Bayview Hunters Point!An open letter to the San Francisco Board of Supervisorshttp://www.sfbayview.com/050306/handsoff050306.shtmlShattering the myth that our community is divided, people – especially Black people – are lining up to sign, but we need lots more signature gatherers. Can you commit to a few hours with a clipboard or to passing petitions among your co-workers, friends and family? Give us a call at (415) 671-0789 or an email at editor@sfbayview.com. Now for what we’re up against: The Bay View newspaper has been too broke to help finance the petition campaign,very few contributions have come in and bills are overdue. So the petition drive needs financial help … and so does the Bay View newspaper, desperately. The Bay View has faced many crises in the over 14 years we’ve published it – eviction, death threats, never enough money – yet readers have always come through, enabling us to bounce back, tackle bigger issues and fight harder than ever. We hate to beg, but WE NEED YOU NOW. WITHOUT AN IMMEDIATE AND SUBSTANTIAL LOAN, THE BAY VIEW CANNOT CONTINUE. To discuss a loan, which we can amply collateralize, please call us at (415) 671-0789; we’re here 24/7. Tax-deductible contributions to our nonprofit arm, the Hurricane Relief Information Network, are also a big help to save the hopes and the lives of survivors who depend on the Bay View for news and resources.

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Appeal for funds:Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches Visit the Dahr Jamail Iraq website http://dahrjamailiraq.com Request for SupportDahr Jamail will soon return to the Middle East to continue hisindependent reporting. As usual, reporting independently is a costlyenterprise; for example, an average hotel room is $50, a fixer runs $50per day, and phone/food average $25 per day. Dahr will report from theMiddle East for one month, and thus needs to raise $5,750 in order tocover his plane ticket and daily operating expenses.A rare opportunity has arisen for Dahr to cover several storiesregarding the occupation of Iraq, as well as U.S. policy in the region,which have been entirely absent from mainstream media.With the need for independent, unfiltered information greater than ever,your financial support is deeply appreciated. Without donations fromreaders, ongoing independent reports from Dahr are simply not possible.All donations go directly towards covering Dahr's on the groundoperating expenses.(c)2006 Dahr Jamail.

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New Flash FilmFrom Young Ava Over At 'Peace Takes Courage' http://www.peacetakescourage.com/page-blog.htmhttp://letter.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

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Save the Lebanese Civilians Petitionhttp://epetitions.net/julywar/index.phphttp://donations.tayyar.org/To The Concerned Citizen of The World:http://epetitions.net/julywar/index.php

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Legal update on Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case Excerpts from a letter written by Robert R. Bryan, the lead attorney for death row political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal. ...On July 20, 2006, we filed the Brief of Appellee and Cross Appellant, Mumia Abu-Jamal, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia. http://www.workers.org/2006/us/mumia-0810/

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Today in Palestine! For up to date information on Israeli's brutal attack onhuman rights and freedom in Palestine and Lebanon go to:http://www.theheadlines.org

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For a great car magnet--a black ribbon with the words, "Bringthe troops home now!" written in red, and it also comes in a lapel pin!--go to:(Put out by A.N.S.W.E.R.)https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Ecommerce?store_id=1621

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THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF ZIONISMBY RALPH SCHOENMANEssential reading for understanding the development of Zionism and Israel in the service of British and USA imperialism. The full text of the book can be found for free at: http://www.marxists.de/middleast/schoenman/

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JOIN THE LYNNE STEWAR DEFENSEFor those of you who don't know who Lynne Stewart is, go to www.lynnestewart.org and get acquainted with Lynne and her cause. Lynne is a criminal defense attorney who is being persecuted for representing people charged with heinous crimes. It is a bedrock of our legal system that every criminal defendant has a right to a lawyer. Persecuting Lynne is an attempt to terrorize and intimidate all criminal defense attorneys in this country so they will stop representing unpopular people. If this happens, the fascist takeover of this nation will be complete. We urge you all to go the website, familiarize yourselves with Lynne and her battle for justicewww.lynnestewart.org

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NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO FREE THE CUBAN FIVEComité Nacional por la Libertad de los Cinco CubanosWho are the Cuban Five?The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prison, serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively, after being wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami, on June 8, 2001. They are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González.The Five were falsely accused by the U.S. government of committing espionage conspiracy against the United States, and other related charges.But the Five pointed out vigorously in their defense that they were involved in monitoring the actions of Miami-based terrorist groups, in order to prevent terrorist attacks on their country of Cuba.The Five’s actions were never directed at the U.S. government. They never harmed anyone nor ever possessed nor used any weapons while in the United States.The Cuban Five’s mission was to stop terrorismFor more than 40 years, anti-Cuba terrorist organizations based in Miami have engaged in countless terrorist activities against Cuba, and against anyone who advocates a normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. More than 3,000 Cubans have died as a result of these terrorists’ attacks.

GerardoHernández2 Life Sentences

AntonioGuerreroLife Sentence

RamonLabañinoLife Sentence

FernandoGonzález19 Years

RenéGonzález15 Years

Free The Cuban Five Held Unjustly In The U.S.!http://www.freethefive.org/

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Eyewitness Account from OaxacaA website is now being circulated that has up-to-date info and video that can be downloaded of the police action and developments in Oaxaca. For those who have not seen it elsewhere, the website is: www.mexico.indymedia.org/oaxaca http://www.mexico.indymedia.org/oaxaca

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REMINDER TO ALL GROUPS: BE SURE AND POST ALL ACTIONS ANDEVENTS TO WWW.INDYBAY.ORG TO REACH THE MOST PEOPLEAGAINST THE WAR IN THE BAY AREA!http://www.indybay.org

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Iraq Body Count For current totals, see our database page.http://www.iraqbodycount.net/press/pr13.php

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The Cost of War[Over three-hundred-billion so far...bw]http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

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"The Democrats always promise to help workers, and the don't!The Republicans always promise to help business, and the do!"- Mort Sahl

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Join the Campaign to Shut Down the Guantanamo Torture CenterGo to: http://www.shutitdown.org/to send a letter to Congress and the White House: Shut Down Guantanamo and all torture centers and prisons.A.N.S.W.E.R. CoalitionAct Now to Stop War & End Racismhttp://www.ANSWERcoalition.org http://www.actionsf.orgsf@internationalanswer.org2489 Mission St. Rm. 24San Francisco: 415-821-6545

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Great Counter-Recruitment Websitehttp://notyoursoldier.org/article.php?list=type&type=14

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DEFEND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND CIVIL RIGHTS!

Last summer the U.S. Border Patrol arrested Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss, both 23-year-old volunteers assisting immigrants on the border, for medically evacuating 3 people in critical condition from the Arizona desert.

Criminalization for aiding undocumented immigrants already exists on the books in the state of Arizona. Daniel and Shanti are targeted to be its first victims. Their arrest and subsequent prosecution for providing humanitarian aid could result in a 15-year prison sentence. Any Congressional compromise with the Sensenbrenner bill (HR 4437) may include these harmful criminalization provisions. Fight back NOW!

Help stop the criminalization of undocumented immigrants and those who support them!

For more information call 415-821- 9683. For information on the Daniel and Shanti Defense Campaign, visit www.nomoredeaths.org.

"Calculated in real 2005 dollars, the 1968 minimum wage was the highest at $9.12. "The 8 dollar per hour Whole Foods employees are being paid $1.12 less than the 1968 minimum wage.

"A federal minimum wage was first set in 1938. The graph shows both nominal (red) and real (blue) minimum wage values. Nominal values range from 25 cents per hour in 1938 to the current $5.15/hr. The greatest percentage jump in the minimum wage was in 1950, when it nearly doubled. The graph adjusts these wages to 2005 dollars (blue line) to show the real value of the minimum wage. Calculated in real 2005 dollars, the 1968 minimum wage was the highest at $9.12. Note how the real dollar minimum wage rises and falls. This is because it gets periodically adjusted by Congress. The period 1997-2006, is the longest period during which the minimum wage has not been adjusted. States have departed from the federal minimum wage. Washington has the highest minimum wage in the country at $7.63 as of January 1, 2006. Oregon is next at $7.50. Cities, too, have set minimum wages. Santa Fe, New Mexico has a minimum wage of $9.50, which is more than double the state minimum wage at $4.35."

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NO BORDERS! NO WALLS! NO FENCES! GENERAL AMNESTY FOR ALL!OUR HOMELAND IS WHERE WE LIVE!

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REPEAL THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT IN 2007!Check out: 10 EXCELLENT REASONS NOT TO JOIN THE MILITARYhttp://www.10reasonsbook.com/Public Law print of PL 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 [1.8 MB] http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.htmlAlso, the law is up before Congress again in 2007. See this article from USA Today:Bipartisan panel to study No Child Left BehindBy Greg Toppo, USA TODAYFebruary 13, 2006http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-02-13-education-panel_x.htm

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The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonieshttp://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.htmlhttp://www.law.ou.edu/hist/decind.htmlhttp://www.usconstitution.net/declar.htmlhttp://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1805195.php

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Bill of Rightshttp://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.htmlhttp://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1805182.php

1) LABOR DAY "EXECUTIVE EXCESS" REPORT:OIL & DEFENSE CEOS POCKET THE SPOILSPRESS RELEASE FROM UNITED FOR A FAIR ECONOMY & INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIESContact: Betsy Leondar-Wright, (617) 423-2148 x113, (781) 704-4039 (cell)Embargoed to 12:01 am, Wednesday, August 30, 2006An embargoed PDF version of the report is now available to journalists on the web: Please note the change in the embargo date to August 30.http://www.faireconomy.org/reports/2006/ExecutiveExcess2006.pdf

7) The following is the text of a letter to Commandante Fidel Castro from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan as published in the Final Call Newspaper, Vol 25 No. 45.IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL.August 14, 2006http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2874.shtml

8) Who Started Terrorism in the Arab-Israeli Conflict?http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

1) LABOR DAY "EXECUTIVE EXCESS" REPORT:OIL & DEFENSE CEOS POCKET THE SPOILSPRESS RELEASE FROM UNITED FOR A FAIR ECONOMY & INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIESContact: Betsy Leondar-Wright, (617) 423-2148 x113, (781) 704-4039 (cell)Embargoed to 12:01 am, Wednesday, August 30, 2006An embargoed PDF version of the report is now available to journalists on the web: Please note the change in the embargo date to August 30.http://www.faireconomy.org/reports/2006/ExecutiveExcess2006.pdf.

CEOs in the defense and oil industries have been able to translate war and rising oil prices into personal jackpots, according to a new report from theInstitute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy, "Executive Excess 2006."

OIL BARONS: With Americans now paying over $3 per gallon, petroleum profiteers are raking in nearly three times the pay of CEOs in comparably sized businesses. In 2005, the top 15 U.S. oil CEOs got a 50% raise since 2004. They now average $32.7 million, compared with $11.6 million for allCEOs of large U.S. firms.

Executive pay at U.S.-based oil companies also far outpaced pay at oil companies based outside the United States. BP and Royal Dutch Shell paid their CEOs only one-eighth what their U.S. counterparts collected just$5.6 and $4.1 million in 2005, respectively even though both companies operate in the same global marketplace as their U.S.-based competitors.

CEO William Greehey of Valero Energy took home the oil industry's biggest executive pay rewards in 2005, pocketing $95.2 million. The average construction worker at an energy company would have to work 4,279 years to equal what Greehey collected last year.

DEFENSE CONTRACTORS: Since the "War on Terror" began, CEOs at the top 34 military contractors have enjoyed average paychecks that are double the compensation they received in the four years leading up to 9/11.

The new "Executive Excess" report surveys all publicly held U.S. corporations among the top 100 defense contractors that had at least 10 percent of revenues in defense.

These 34 CEOs combined have pocketed almosta billion dollars since 9/11 enough to employ more than a million Iraqis for a year to rebuild their country.

In 2005, defense industry CEOs walked off with 44 times more pay than military generals with 20 years experience, and 308 times more than Army privates.

United Technologies CEO George David led the pack with over $200 million in pay since 9/11, despite investigations into the quality of the company's Black Hawk helicopters.

CEO Jay Gellert of Health Net saw the biggest personal pay raise after 9/11, a 1,134% leap over the preceding four years. The company owes its earnings growth to American taxpayers, who may not realize they pick up a hefty shareof cost overruns in the privatized military health care system.

"Americans across the political spectrum should be outraged by the sight of executives cashing in on war windfalls," says report co-author Sarah Anderson. "Unfortunately, partisan politics has stopped Congress fromeffectively overseeing this war contracting free-for-all."

Since 1990, the overall CEO-worker pay gap in the United States has grown from 107-to-1 to last year's 411-to-1. Minimum wage workers have lost 9 percent after inflation in the same 15 years. If the minimum wage had risenat the same pace as CEO pay, it would now stand at $22.61 per hour, over four times the current $5.15.

"Executive Excess 2006" also challenges the current reform agenda for addressing excessive CEO pay in oil and defense as well as throughout the American economy. That agenda, reflected in new SEC rules released at the end of July, emphasizes requiring corporate boards to fully disclose all the revenue streams perks and pensions included that go into contemporary executive pay.

"Transparency has been ineffective in curtailing CEO pay," says Collins. "The root problem is an imbalance of power. We need to give more clout to other stakeholders, such as requiring shareholder approval of executive pay and retirement packages, as is now done in Britain."

Authored by Sarah Anderson, John Cavanagh, Chuck Collins, and Eric Benjamin, and edited by Sam Pizzigati, "Executive Excess 2006" is the 13th annual CEO pay study by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.

The Institute for Policy Studies is an independent center for progressive research and education in Washington, DC.

United for a Fair Economy is a national organization based in Boston that spotlights growing economic inequality.

An embargoed PDF version of the report is now available to journalists on the web: http://www.faireconomy.org/reports/2006/ExecutiveExcess2006.pdf.Please note the change in the embargo date to August 30.

For hard copies or to set up interviews with the co-authors, call617-423-2148 x113 or e-mail bleondar-wright@faireconomy.org.

President George W. Bush has suspended all U.S. elections in November in order to save money for the United States of America. All elected officials including Governors, Mayors, City Council and Senators will be appointed by the President. What if this was on the front page of the USA Today? Well, that is what has happened to the membership of UAW Local 292, but it wasn't the US government or Bush who made the announcement, it was our so-called "democratic" union.

The local UAW president and shop chairman with the help of their caucus has suspended all union elections and will hand pick people for all union positions at local 292. As those currently in office transfer to General Motors or take the Special Attrition Program they will personally select their replacements. After years of previous betrayals and failures it should come as no surprise to the membership.

Despite the membership not knowing about the vote ahead of time over a dozen concerned members were able to mobilize in a very short period of time and stood strong against the outright attack on our UAW International Constitution on August 17, 2006 by the Camp-Anthony caucus. Those who were lucky to even find out about this vote witnessed this betrayal firsthand. If they agree or not with the vote, democracy did in fact die with a 70-15 pass. Let us recognize though, that quite a few union officials voted more than once. Some of them voted at the first, second, and even the third shift meeting so this vote is not completely correct.

Regardless, had the membership been informed it would have been different results no matter how many times they voted. But, that was their strategy, to keep you out of the union hall so the vote would pass. Everyone knows the vast majority of union meetings consist of only the appointed and elected officials. The Administration knew about the motion ahead of time, it was even submitted by one of their own. There was time to let the membership in the factory know, if they really wanted them to know. As for retirees, they were not allowed to vote even though the administrative branch that represents them is effected. One retiree who tried to vote against the motion was quickly verbally abused and removed from the vote by the Vice President.

Regrettably, the good ol'boys and their old guard denied any amendment or real discussion from the opposition by applying even more undemocratic actions to the situation. Had the membership who posed opposition to the motion been allowed to speak without union officials committing parliamentary violations, attacks and political tricks it would have been different.

It's Not About Democracy, It's About Control And Power

Let us look at the facts without the distortions of career union politicians controlling the union meeting. Let us examine the destruction of our democratic right to have union elections and vote. Let us examine this violation to our UAW constitution in order to as they say, "save our local".

Is this not a democracy? Do our votes really mean so little to this caucus in power? Was not the UAW founded on democracy for all members? What happened to one member, one voice? Was not the UAW founded on equality and the right to vote? It's no wonder this administration caucus worked diligently to fight back our resolution in May that would give us one member, one vote for all union positions including appointed and International. Hell, they want all positions appointed! That much is now obvious as democracy and solidarity are hollow words to this administration.

Many of us understand that it is the only way for them to retain power and place whoever "plays the game", sucks up and basically does whatever they say just to get an office. Ah yes, that golden ticket! Ask yourselves if it is also to keep new hires from getting involved and opposition from gaining offices. It's undemocratic regardless of any excuse or reason they present. This situation is exactly why our UAW constitution was created in the first place. This rogue leadership destroys our future every second they can get if it will get them more money or more power. They say that Region 3 approves of this, but they could not prove it. So, if they did contact the Region then they had plenty of extra time to inform ALL the membership of the vote.

I once had a brother who is inspiring to be an elected union official tell me a few months ago that, "No matter what, I stick with my UAW." I wonder what he thinks about his statement to me today after going against our constitution, a.k.a. "my UAW". Maybe he really meant to say, I stick with "whoever is power".

We are told that this undemocratic motion is about the money. So where was the financial report? How convenient it was not given out. Can you remember the last time they missed a financial report at a union meeting? It's a very rare occasion. Even if it was about money then so be it, democracy isn't free and it isn't cheap. The price of the democratic right to vote, the very core of every union member's rights is worth every penny of our dues money. Any conscious union member will know that it is not about money, it's about retaining power and keeping people they don't like from running for a union position. They are cowards who must break our own constitution to keep out the people they don't like out of office. This is simplyan easy way to appoint their friends, loyal supporters and family members. Everything else is smoke and mirrors!

If you think I'm wrong then why did they deny several perfectly legal amendments including one that would have outlined abuse? Instead, they simply began refusing to call on us and outright violated the Robert's Rules of Order several times to get the motion passed. My favorite tactic of theirs is to talk everyone to death and drag on and on having various cronies called on when the tension and dissent starts to hit them. It's a great way to calm down the room and encourage a submissive environment. Often people leave because of time constraints. It's all a shame, it's politics at the expense of the membership. The motion even though it passed is grounds for appeal since it violates our constitution. If anyone has 2 or 3 years to waste go for it but, remember the Public Review Board is appointed by the UAW international. Go figure.

See, the UAW bureaucracy can spend hundreds of millions to line their own pockets and make $200 - $300 thousands a year in salaries with our dues money but, they can't provide money for basic fundamental union elections. The UAW can transfer hundreds of millions from our strike fund for organizing but, they can't provide money to the membership they already "represent".

Believe their tricky political games, trust in their lies, or see the truth for what it is, the truth. No matter what you decide, democracy and our UAW constitution has been broken, violated and tossed in our faces. No single excuse they make can cover up this fact. The old saying is, "When good (wo)men do nothing, evil (wo)men prevail."

Politicians are just that, politicians. It's their desire to stay in office by any means. It is why politics is "dirty business". The union is no different than other politics. At local 292 we have a handful of liars and professional trade union politicians who know all the tricks and are experts at the game. Everything else is part of their game. They will always tell you exactly what you want to hear even if they outright lie to your face. It is the nature of the beast to lie, cheat, and steal. Truth and integrity is their worse enemy. It's why they hate, lie about and attack members who speak out.

Caucus Is Misleading The Membership

Take for example our shop chairman. At this same meeting when speaking to new hires he said "the membership voted for the two-tier agreement in 2003." This is a political move on his part often used on the shop floor to redirect questions from the facts. See, the truth is we didn't vote on the two-tier agreement. In fact we voted on a "to be negotiated" possible memorandum of understanding that wasn't agreed on until the following year. When the contract in 2003 was presented there was no information or meetings on the two-tier memorandum of understanding. In fact, they worked very hard to slide it in and keep it under the radar. They denied the membership access to details and when we filed an appeal the UAW 2 years later responded that all two-tier members are a "Null Class" which means the constitution of equal pay for equal work doesn't apply to new hires. You can look it up and see yourselves.

To make matters worse, General Motors and Delphi votes had been combined in 2003. What this meant was even if all of the Delphi membership voted "No" against the two-tier it would not have mattered because GM workers who were not given information either out numbered us 2-1 in votes. And let us not forget the nice sign on bonus and retirement perks they gave away to help push the contract through. The devil is in the details.

Or how about this lesson in politics. A joint representative puts forth a resolution for the UAW Constitutional Convention that basically states if an elected or appointed official violates the UAW Constitution they should be removed from office. This same appointed official and all those who voted for it then ironically vote to violate our constitution on August 17, 2006 mentioned above. Least we not forget they also voted in 2004 to two-tier our own union hall staff. This administration is no better than Steve Miller and Delphi.

Do not believe the venomous words from this failed caucus we have in power at local 292, research the truth yourselves. When they say you will not get fired if you strike with higher sinority ask that union official were their solidarity was when they sacrificed your pay and benefits. Take time and look up what the UAW did to the Accuride workers in the 1990s or at Caterpillar. The truth is out there and they can't cover up all their tracks when people start to fight back.

They had an excuse for everything to stack up the new generation of pork chopper candidates and isolated new hires all the while claming to support them. They are a mini-Delphi who only care about their own retirement and personal gain. The truth will set you free. Even if you the reader see it now or see it later, you will see it one day. The administrative caucus and their cronies say many things about me so you the reader won't listen, they have for years. One day though, you the reader will look back and you will see the truth of what really happened at Delphi. They can't cover up their tracks forever.

Long live real worker solidarity and true union democracy. May all the fighters of injustices answer their calling and put their swords to the throat of business unionism.

OAXACA, Mexico, Aug. 23 — For three months, civil unrest has gripped this lovely colonial city like a hound with a rabbit, leaving two people dead, crippling the tourist industry and shuttering schools.

The original cause of the strife — a teachers’ strike for better pay — has become lost in the escalating violence and the revolutionary demands of the protesters, who now demand that Gov. Ulises Ruiz step down.

The teachers’ union has been joined by scores of social organizations, some of them with leftist philosophies.

They have shut down highways, taken over five radio stations, burned more than a dozen buses, blocked off the city’s historic square, seized government offices, destroyed the stage for an annual cultural fair and barricaded tourists in their hotels. The state government has lost control of the center of the city, including its own offices, and is working out of improvised quarters with cellphones. Though each side has asked for federal intervention, President Vicente Fox has refused to send in troops. He has dispatched negotiators from the Interior and Labor Ministries, who have been unsuccessful in resolving the conflict.

On the national level, Mexico has been engulfed in a political crisis since the leftist presidential candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, narrowly lost the July 2 election, according to an official tally. He has accused his conservative rival, Felipe Calderón, of fraud and mounted similar protests in Mexico City, taking over the central square.

Though the conflict here started well before the election, it has added to the country’s overall angst, feeding fears that left-wing groups will use Mr. López Obrador’s movement to foment unrest, with heavy-handed counterattacks by people in power.

Governor Ruiz, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which long ruled this state with a iron hand, has accused local leaders of Mr. López Obrador’s party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution, of taking part in the protests, adding yet another layer of politics to the conflict.

Early on Tuesday, police officers in a convoy that had been sent to clear blocked streets opened fire on a radio station that the protesters had seized. In the gunfire, Lorenzo San Pablo Cervantes, 52, an architect who worked for the state, was killed, the police said. It is unclear whether he was a bystander or was supporting the strikers.

The protesters seized about a dozen radio stations on Monday afternoon after unidentified gunmen destroyed the broadcasting equipment of Channel 9, a public television and radio station the strikers and their allies commandeered early this month to spread their version of events, the authorities said.

The state attorney general, Lizbeth Caña, said someone had fired at the officers from roofs near the station, starting the gunfight. But witnesses said the police had opened fire twice without provocation.

“They are the ones who brought arms, and we had nothing but rocks,” said Manuel Díaz, 40, a teacher, who was keeping a tense guard on Wednesday with an ax handle outside the radio station where the shooting had occurred. “Ruiz talks out of both sides of his mouth. On the television he calls on us to negotiate. But in the streets at night, he tries to kill us.”

On Aug. 10, Eleuterio José Jiménez Colmenares, 50, an auto mechanic and the husband of a teacher, was shot and killed during a march to support the strike as he chased youths who had thrown rocks at marchers.

Enrique Rueda Pacheco, the leader of the 70,000-member teachers’ union, said the deaths, and Mr. Ruiz’s use of tear gas and riot police in an attempt to dislodge the protesters from the city center on June 14, had made it impossible for the teachers to accept anything less than his resignation. Their demands for more pay are no longer the primary issue, Mr. Rueda Pacheco said.

“The fundamental problem has been the lack of interest of the state and federal governments,” he said in an interview. “They bet the teachers would just go away.”

Miguel Ángel Concha, a spokesman for Governor Ruiz, said the state lacks the money to meet the teachers’ salary demands. The teachers had asked for a pay package that would have cost $150 million, while the state’s final offer in June was about $8.5 million. The teachers also have asked for about a dozen improvements, including new books and more classrooms, for a state school system that serves hundreds of thousands of students.

Mr. Ruiz’s aides acknowledged that the government made an enormous error on June 14 when it used force, angering many teachers who were used to an annual strike and a resulting pay increase. An unconfirmed rumor that a woman and two children had died in the attack because of tear gas has become gospel among the protesters, though no bodies have been found.

Beyond the salary dispute, however, are old political rivalries. Mr. Ruiz narrowly won election over a leftist candidate in 2004, and many of the teachers and other protesters view his victory as illegitimate. They also accuse his police force of at least 35 political killings of civilians, which the government strongly denies. Finally, Mr. Ruiz vowed to end the yearly teachers’ strikes that previous governors had routinely settled by granting raises.

Ms. Caña, the attorney general, charges that groups seeking to overthrow the government have infiltrated the union. “These people are saying ‘Hit me, so I can denounce you for hitting me,’ ” she said. “They are generating instability and chaos.”

On Tuesday night, demonstrators gathered in the Zócalo, the central square, to watch a documentary made by protesters on televisions they had set up. The film accuses Mr. Ruiz not only of killing scores of his political enemies, but of being a pawn for global capitalism.

Now, the once jewel-like center of Oaxaca is a mess. Protesters have stolen buses and used pickup trucks to block streets, along with rocks, barbed wire and ropes. Graffiti declaring Mr. Ruiz an assassin defaces most of the buildings. Tents and tarps shelter protesters, who burn tires and garbage at night, keeping an eye out for the police. The city’s once-prosperous tourism industry is gasping for air. More than 1,000 hotel workers have been laid off, and tourists have canceled reservations well into 2007. The hotel and motel association estimates that the industry has lost $150 million in the last three months, not to mention the embarrassing cancellation of the Guelaguetza cultural festival here.

“No one has won anything here,” said Fredy Alcántara, the president of the association. “No one has come out ahead.” The federal government must intervene, he said, adding, “We are desperate.”

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4) Human Rights Group Accuses Israel of War CrimesBy JOHN KIFNERAugust 24, 2006http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/world/middleeast/24lebanon.html?ref=world

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 23 — Amnesty International accused Israel on Wednesday of war crimes in its monthlong battle with Hezbollah, saying its bombing campaign amounted to indiscriminate attacks on Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure and population.

“Many of the violations examined in this report are war crimes that give rise to individual criminal responsibility,” Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group, said in a report on the Israeli campaign. “They include directly attacking civilian objects and carrying out indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks.”

“During more than four weeks of ground and aerial bombardment by the Israeli armed forces, the country’s infrastructure suffered destruction on a catastrophic scale,” the report said, contending this was “an integral part of the military strategy.”

“Israeli forces pounded buildings into the ground,” the report went on, “reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble and turning villages and towns into ghost towns as their inhabitants fled the bombardments.

“Main roads, bridges and petrol stations were blown to bits. Entire families were killed in airstrikes on their homes or in their vehicles while fleeing the aerial assaults on their villages. Scores lay buried beneath the rubble of their houses for weeks, as the Red Cross and other rescue workers were prevented from accessing the areas by continuing Israeli strikes.”

Mark Regev, the spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, categorically rejected the claim that Israel had “acted outside international norms or international legality concerning the rules of war.” Unlike Hezbollah, he said, Israel did not target the civilian population, nor did it indiscriminately target Lebanese civilian infrastructure.

He added: “Our job was made very difficult by the fact that Hezbollah adopted a deliberate policy of positioning itself inside civilian areas and breaking the first fundamental distinction under the rules of war, by deliberately endangering civilians. Under the rules of war, you are legally entitled to target infrastructure that your enemy is exploiting for its military campaign.”

Citing a variety of sources, the Amnesty International report said Israel’s air force had carried out more than 7,000 air attacks, while the navy had fired 2,500 shells. The human toll, according to Lebanese government statistics, was estimated at 1,183 deaths, mostly civilians, about a third of them children; 4,054 wounded; and 970,000 people displaced, out of a population of a little under four million.

“Statements from the Israeli military officials seem to confirm that the destruction of the infrastructure was indeed a goal of the military campaign,” the report said. It said that “in village after village the pattern was similar: the streets, especially main streets, were scarred with artillery craters along their length. In some cases, cluster bomb impacts were identified.”

“Houses were singled out for precision-guided missile attacks and were destroyed, totally or partially, as a result,” the report said. “Business premises such as supermarkets or food stores and auto service stations and petrol stations were targeted.

“With the electricity cut off and food and other supplies not coming into the villages, the destruction of supermarkets and petrol stations played a crucial role in forcing local residents to leave.”

The Amnesty International report said the widespread destruction of apartments, houses, electricity and water services, roads, bridges, factories and ports, in addition to several statements by Israeli officials, suggested a policy of punishing the Lebanese government and the civilian population in an effort to get them to turn against Hezbollah.

“The evidence strongly suggests that the extensive destruction of public works, power systems, civilian homes and industry was a deliberate and integral part of the military strategy rather than collateral damage,” the report said.

It also noted a statement from the Israeli military chief of staff, Lt. Gen Dan Halutz, calling Hezbollah a “cancer” that Lebanon must get rid of “because if they don’t, their country will pay a very high price.”

The Amnesty International report came as a number of international aid and human rights agencies used the current lull in fighting to assess the damage.

The United Nations Development Program said the attacks had obliterated most of the progress Lebanon had made in recovering from the devastation of the civil war years. “Fifteen years of work have been wiped out in a month,” Jean Fabre, a spokesman for the organization in Geneva, told reporters.

Another urgent issue, aid groups say, is the number of unexploded bomblets from cluster bombs littering the southern villages. Tekimiti Gilbert, the operations chief of a United Nations mine removal team, told reporters in Tyre: “Up to now there are at least 170 cluster bomb strikes in south Lebanon. It’s a huge problem. There are obvious dangers with people, children, cars. People are tripping over these things.”

United Nations officials say at least five children have been killed by picking up the bomblets scattered about by the cluster bombs.

Despite the cease-fire, southern Lebanon remained tense on Wednesday. Three Lebanese soldiers were killed trying to defuse a rocket that had not exploded. An Israeli soldier was killed and two others wounded when, according to the Israeli military, they walked over a minefield that Israel had previously buried.

The Israeli military also said it had fired artillery rounds from the disputed territory of Shabaa Farms to the Lebanese village of Shabaa. There were no reports of casualties.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro is relaxing for thefirst time in his life as he recovers from intestinal surgery free ofhis excessive workload, his older brother, Ramon Castro, said onTuesday.

Castro handed over the reins of power to his younger sibling RaulCastro on July 31 after undergoing emergency surgery to stopintestinal bleeding attributed by the Cuban authorities to hisworkaholic pace.

Ramon Castro, the farmer in the family who has kept out of politics,said Fidel Castro was enjoying some downtime since ceding thepresidency provisionally to his younger brother.

"He is happy because he is free. For the first time in his life hehas handed over the job to Raul," Ramon Castro said.

Castro's illness has forced him to abandon his legendary pace ofactivity that included lengthy speeches, all-night meetings and theoverseeing of most aspects of Cuban government and society.

Details of Castro's illness and the operation he underwent are aclosely guarded state secret and rumors had been rife he might evenhave died until Cuba released photographs and video of Castro aroundhis 80th birthday on August 13.

The images showed the bedridden leader alert and joking with his mainally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

In his first public statement published on Friday, Raul Castro saidthe country was absolutely calm, although he added that the armedforces and tens of thousands of reservists were mobilized in thecrucial hours after the hand-over of power was announced to face thethreat of a U.S. invasion.

Cuba watchers say the transfer of power was done smoothly but it isnot certain whether Fidel Castro will be able to resume fullgovernment functions in one of the world's last communist countries.

'FEELING LIKE A LION'

Asked whether his brother would attend the summit of the NonalignedMovement that Cuba will host from September 11 to 16, Ramon Castro,who will be 82 in October, said, "Sure, he is already feeling like alion."

Ramon Castro spoke after lunching with Florida cattleman John ParkeWright IV, who last year shipped breeding cattle to Cuba under anexception granted for agriculture in the U.S. embargo imposed on Cubashortly after Castro's 1959 revolution.

The Naples, Florida-based businessman whose family sold cattle toCuba from the 1850s until the U.S. trade ban, said relations betweenU.S. farmers and Cuba "are doing great" but would benefit if theembargo was lifted fully.

Raul Castro, 75, said on Friday that Cuba was prepared to discussimproved relations with the United States if Washington agreed not tointerfere in the island.

The administration of President George W. Bush, which has labeled thehand-over of power from one Castro brother to another as anunacceptable "dynastic succession," has tightened enforcement of thesanctions in recent years and stepped up pressure for a transition tomultiparty democracy.

The Congress of the country is ringed by two-meter tall grilled metalbarriers soldered together apparently to thwart a suicide car bombattack. Behind this metal wall, 3000 vizored, kevlar-wearing robocops --the Federal Preventative Police (PFP, a police force drawn from thearmy) -- and members of the elite Estado Mayor or Presidential militarycommand, form a second line of defense. Armed with tear gas launchers,water cannons, and reportedly light tanks, this Praetorian Guard hasbeen assigned to protect law and order and the institutions of therepublic against left-wing mobs that threaten to storm the LegislativePalace -- or so the President informs his fellow citizens in repeatedmessages transmitted on national television.

No, the President's name is not Pinochet and this military tableau isnot being mounted in the usual banana republic or some African satrap.This is Mexico, a paragon of democracy (dixit George Bush), Washington'third trading partner, and the eighth leading petroleum producer on theplanet, seven weeks after the fraud-marred July 2 presidential electionof which, at this writing, no winner has been officially declared. Oneof the elite military units assigned to seal off congress is indeedtitled the July 2 brigade.

MEXICO ON A KNIFEBLADE headlines the British Guardian, but the typicallyshort-term-memory-loss U.S. print media seems to have forgotten aboutthe imbroglio just south of its borders. Nonetheless, the phone ringsand it's New York telling me they just got a call from their man on theborder and Homeland Security is beefing up its forces around Laredo inanticipation of upheaval further south. The phone rings again and it'sCalifornia telling me they just heard on Air America that U.S. Navypatrols were being dispatched to safeguard Mexican oil platforms in theGulf. The left-wing daily here, La Jornada, runs a citizen-snapped photoof army convoys arriving carrying soldiers disguised as farmers andyoung toughs. Rumors race through the seven mile-long encampmentinstalled by supporters of leftist presidential challenger Andres ManuelLopez Obrador (AMLO) three weeks ago who have tied up big city trafficand enraged the motorist class here, that PFP robocops will attackbefore dawn. The campers stay up all night huddled around bum firesprepared to defend their tent cities.

The moment reminds many Mexicans of the tense weeks in September andOctober 1968 when 12 days before the Olympic Games were to beinaugurated here, President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz ordered the military tomassacre striking students in a downtown plaza not far from where AMLO'speople are now camped out. 300 were killed in the Plaza of ThreeCultures, their bodies incinerated at Military Camp #1 in western MexicoCity. The Tlatelolco massacre was a watershed in social conflict hereand the similarities are sinister. In fact, Lopez Obrador has taken tocomparing outgoing President Vicente Fox with Diaz Ordaz.

Fox will go to congress September 1 to deliver his final State of theUnion address. The new legislature will be convened the same day. Thecountry may or may not have a new president by that day. In anticipationof this show-down, on August 14, newly-elected senators and deputiesfrom the three parties that comprise AMLO's Coalition for the Good ofAll attempted to encamp on the sidewalk in front of the legislativepalace only to be rousted and clobbered bloody by the President'srobocops.

With 160 representatives, the Coalition forms just a quarter of the 628members of the new congress but they will be a loud minority duringFox's "Informe". Since the 1988 "presidenciales" were stolen fromCuauhtemoc Cardenas, founder of AMLO's Party of the DemocraticRevolution, PRD legislators have routinely interrupted the presidentduring this authoritarian ritual in orchestrated outbursts that havesometimes degenerated into partisan fisticuffs.

The first to challenge the Imperial Presidency was Porfirio Munoz Ledo,a hoary political warhorse, who in 1988 thrust a finger at PresidentMiguel De la Madrid, accusing him of overseeing the theft of theelection from Cardenas. Munoz Ledo's J'Accuse stunned the politicalclass. He was slugged and pummeled by members of De la Madrid'slong-ruling PRI when he tried to escape the chamber. Munoz Ledo nowstands at AMLO's side.

But perhaps the most comical moment in the annals of acting out duringthe Informe, came in 1996 when a brash PRI deputy donned a Babe theValiant Pig mask and positioned himself directly under the podium fromwhich President Ernesto Zedillo was addressing the state of the nation,and wiggled insouciant signs with slogans that said things like 'EAT THERICH!" Like Munoz Ledo, Marco Rascon was physically attacked, his maskripped off like he was a losing wrestler by a corrupt railroad unionofficial who in turn was hammer locked by a pseudo-leftist senator, Irma"La Tigresa" Serrano, a one-time ranchero singer and in fact, the formervery close friend of Gustavo Diaz Ordaz.

This September 1, if martial law is not declared and the new congressdissolved before it is even installed, the PRD delegation, which will nodoubt be strip-searched by the Estado Mayor for incriminating banners,is sworn to create a monumental ruckus, shredding the tarnished decorumof this once-solemn event forever to protest Fox's endorsement ofelectoral larceny. Some solons say they may go naked.

There is a reptilian feel to Mexico seven weeks after a discreditedFederal Electoral Institute (IFE) cemented Lopez Obrador into a secondplace coffin by awarding the presidency to right-winger Felipe Calderonby a mere 243,000 votes out of a total 42,000,000 cast. Both Calderonand IFE czar Luis Carlos Ugalde (Calderon was best man at Ugalde'swedding) make these little beady reptile eyes as they slither acrossnational screens.

Those screens have been the scenes of some of the slimiest and mostsordid political intrigue of late. One of the lizard kings who isfleetingly featured on Televisa primetime is an imprisoned Argentineanconstruction tycoon, Carlos Ahumada, who in 2004 conspired with Fox,Calderon's PAN, and Televisa to frame AMLO on corruption charges andtake him out of the presidential election."El Peje" (for a gar-like fishfrom the swamps of Lopez Obrador's native Tabasco) was then leading thepack by 18 points.

Charged by Lopez Obrador, then the mayor of this megalopolis, withdefrauding Mexico City out of millions, Ahumada had taken his revenge byfilming PRD honchos when they came to his office to pick up boodles ofpolitical cash. Although the filthy lucre was perfectly legal underMexico's milquetoast campaign financing laws, the pick-ups looked awfulon national television. AMLO's former personal secretary was caughtstuffing wads of low denomination bills into his suit coat pockets as ifhe were on Saturday Night Live.

Ahumada subsequently turned the tapes over to the leprous,cigar-chomping leader of Fox's PAN party in the Senate, Diego Fernandezde Cevallos ("El Jefe Diego") who in turn had them delivered to agreen-haired clown, Brozo, who was then reading the morning news onTelevisa. Then the Argentine blackmailer fled to Cuba in a privateplane. Televisa would air the incriminating videos day and night formonths.

Apprehended in Veradero after his lover Robles was shadowed to thatsocialist beachfront, Ahumada spilled the beans to Cuban authorities:Interior Secretary Santiago Creel, who was then AMLO's lead rival forthe presidency, had cooked up the plot with the connivance of reviledformer president Carlos Salinas, Lopez Obrador's most venomous foe, thethen attorney general, and Fox himself, to remove AMLO from the race.

The Mexican government did not ask for extradition and Ahumada'sdeportation from Cuba was not seen as a friendly gesture. Within amonth, diplomatic relations between Mexico and Cuba were broken off andambassadors summoned home. The construction tycoon has been imprisonedin Mexico City ever since he was booted out of Cuba and was last heardfrom when he had his rogue cop chauffer shoot up the family SUV, acharade both Fox and Televisa tried to pin on AMLO. Ahumada hadsuggested he was about to release two more incriminating videos. Thesedubious events took place on June 6, the day of a crucial presidentialdebate between AMLO and Calderon.

Then last week, Ahumada abruptly resurfaced, or at least his videotapedconfession to Cuban authorities did. Filmed through prison bars, he laysout the plot step by step. Yes, he affirms, the deal was fixed up to cutAMLO's legs out from under him and advance the fortunes of theright-wing candidate who turned out to be Felipe Calderon and not thebumbling Creel. The conspiracy backfired badly as his supporters ralliedaround him and Lopez Obrador's ratings soared.

The origins of the confession tape, leaked to top-rung reporter CarmenAristegui, was obscure. Had Fidel dispatched it from his sick bed tobolster Lopez Obrador's claims of victory as the PAN and the snake-eyedTelevisa evening anchor Joaquin Lopez Dorriga hissed? The air grewserpentine with theories. There was even one school that speculatedCalderon himself had been the source in a scheme to distance himselffrom Fox (there had always been bad feelings between them) and Creel,now the leader of the PAN faction in congress.

AMLO advanced a variant of this explanation: the specter of Ahumada hadbeen resuscitated to divert attention from the evidence of generalizedfraud the Coalition had submitted to the TRIFE and the panel's impendingverdict that Calderon had won the election.

Perhaps the most nagging question in this snakepit of uncertainty iswhat happened during the partial recount of less than 10per cent of the130,000 ballot boxes ordered by the TRIFE to test the legitimacy of theIFE's results. Although the recount concluded on August 13, the judgeshave released no numbers and are not obligated to do so. Their onlyresponsibility is to certify the validity of the election.

Although AMLO's reps in the counting rooms came up with gobs of evidence-- violated ballot boxes, stolen or stuffed ballots, altered tallysheets and other bizarre anomalies -- only the left-wing daily LaJornada saw fit to mention them. The silence of the Mexican media andtheir accomplices in the international press in respect to the GreatFraud is deafening, although they manage to fill their rags with ampleattacks on Lopez Obrador for tying up Mexico City traffic.

According to AMLO's people, 119,000 ballots in the sample recount cannotbe substantiated in about 3500 casillas, 58,000 more votes were castthan the number of voters on the voting list. In nearly 4000 othercasillas, 61,000 ballots allocated to election officials cannot beaccounted for. The annulment of the casillas in which these alterationsoccurred would put Lopez Obrador in striking distance of Calderon and ina better world, would obligate the TRIFE to order a total recount.

But given the cheesy state of the Mexican judiciary this is not apt tohappen. One of the judges who will decide the fate of democracy inMexico is a former client of El Jefe Diego for whom the PANista senatorwon millions from the Mexico City government in a crooked land deal.

Meanwhile, thousands continue to camp out in a hard rain for a thirdweek on the streets of Mexico City awaiting the court's decision. Theyhave taken to erecting shrines and altars and are praying for divineintervention. Hundreds pilgrimage out to the shrine of the Virgin ofGuadalupe, some crawling on their knees, to ask the Brown Madonna towork her miracle. "God doesn't belong to the PAN!" they chant as theytrudge up the great avenue that leads to the Basilica. "AMLO deserves amiracle" Esther Ortiz, a 70 year-old great grandmother comments to areporter as she kneels to pray before the gilded altar.

At the Metropolitan Cathedral on one flank of the Zocalo, a youngworshipper interrupts Cardinal Norberto Rivera and is quickly hustledoff the premises by his Eminence's bouncers. The following Sunday, theCathedral's great doors are under heavy surveillance, and churchgoersscreened for telltale signs of devotion to Lopez Obrador. Hundreds ofAMLO's supporters mill about in front of the ancient temple shouting"voto por voto" and that Cardinal Rivera is a pederast.

AMLO as demi-god is one motif of this religious pageant being played outat what was once the heart of the Aztec theocracy, the island ofTenochtitlan. The ruins of the twin temples of the fierce Aztec war godHuitzilopochtli and Tlahuac, the god of the rain, are adjacent to theNational Palace against which AMLO's stage is set. Lopez Obrador sleepseach night in a tent close by.

Many hearts were ripped out smoking on these old stones and fed to suchhungry gods before the Crusaders showed up bearing the body and blood ofJesus Christ.

AMLO is accused by right-wing "intellectuals" (Enrique Krauze and thegringo apologist George Grayson) of entertaining a Messiah complex.Indeed, he is up there every day on the big screen, his craggy features,salt and pepper hair, raspy voice and defiantly jutted jaw bearing moreof a passable resemblance to a younger George C. Scott rather than TheCrucified One. AMLO's devotees come every evening at seven, shoehornedbetween the big tents that fill the Zocalo, rain or shine. Last Monday,I stood with a few thousand diehards in a biblical downpour, thunder andlightening shattering the heavens above. "Llueve y llueve y el pueblo nose mueve" they chanted joyously, "it rains and rains and the people donot move."

The evolution of these incantations is fascinating. At first, thestandard slogan of "Voto Por Voto, Casilla por Casilla!" wasautomatically invoked whenever Lopez Obrador stepped to the microphone."You are not alone!" and "Presidente!" had their moment. "Fraude!" isstill popular but in these last days, "No Pasaran!" -- they shall notpass, the cry of the defenders of Madrid as Franco's fascist hordesbanged on the doors of Madrid, 1936 -- has flourished.

In this context, "No Pasaran!" means "we will not let Felipe Calderonpass to the presidency." AMLO, who holds out little hope that the TRIFEwill decide in his favor, devotes more time now to organizing theresistance to the imposition of Calderon upon the Aztec nation. Article39 of the Mexican constitution, he reminds partisans, grants the peoplethe right to change their government if that government does notrepresent them. To this end, he is summoning a million delegates up tothe Zocalo for a National Democratic Convention on Mexican IndependenceDay September 16, a date usually reserved for a major military parade.

Aside from the logistical impossibility of putting a million citizens inthis Tiennemens-sized plaza, how this gargantuan political extravaganzais going to be financed is cloudy. Right now, it seems like smallchildren donating their piggy banks is the main mode of fund-raising.Because AMLO's people distrust the banks, all of which financedCalderon's vicious TV ad campaign, a giant piggy bank has been raised inthe Zocalo to receive the contributions of the faithful.

Dreaming is also a fundraiser. 10,000 raised their voices in song thispast Sunday as part of a huge chorus assembled under the dome of theMonument to the Revolution to perform a cantata based on the words ofMartin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi. This too is a form of civilresistance, Lopez Obrador commended his followers.

The first National Democratic Convention took place behind rebel linesin the state of Aguascalientes in 1914 at the apogee of the MexicanRevolution when the forces of Francisco Villa and his Army of the Northfirst joined forces with Zapata's Liberating Army of the SouthernRevolution. The second National Democratic Revolution took place 80years later in 1994, in a clearing in the Lacandon Jungle of Chiapaswhen the Zapatista Army of National Liberation wedded itself to thecivil society in an uprising that rocked Mexico all throughout the '90s.Eclipsed by events, the EZLN and its quixotic spokesperson SubcomandanteMarcos have disappeared from the political map in the wake of thefraudulent election.

What this third National Democratic Convention is all about is now beingdebated in PRD ruling circles and down at the grassroots. Minimally, aplan of organized resistance that will dog Felipe Calderon for the nextsix years, severely hampering his ability to rule will evolve from thismammoth conclave. The declaration of a government in resistance headedby Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is one consideration. The NationalDemocratic Convention could also result in the creation of a new partyto replace a worn-out PRD now thoroughly infiltrated by cast-offs fromthe PRI.

The Party of the Democratic Revolution has always functioned best as anopposition party. With notable exceptions (AMLO was one), when the PRDbecomes government, it collapses into corruption, internecine bickering,and behaves just as arrogantly as the PAN and the PRI. No Pasaran?

Seven weeks after the July 2 electoral debacle, Mexico finds itself at adangerously combustible conjunction ("coyuntura") in which the tinywhite elite here is about to impose its will upon a largely brown andimpoverished populous to whom the political parties and process growmore irrelevant each day. "No Pasaran!" the people cry out but to whomand what they are alluding to remains to be defined.

John Ross's ZAPATISTAS! Making Another World Possible: Chronicles ofResistance 2000-2006 will be published by Nation Books this October.Ross will travel the Left Coast this fall with both ZAPATISTAS! and anew chapbook of poetry BOMBA! and is still looking for possible venues.Send suggestions to johnross@igc.org

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7) The following is the text of a letter to Commandante Fidel Castro from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan as published in the Final Call Newspaper, Vol 25 No. 45.IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL.August 14, 2006http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2874.shtml

Commandante Fidel CastroLeader of the Cuban Revolution

As-Salaam Alaikum. (Peace Be Unto You)

Dear Commandante Castro,

On behalf of my family, the members of the Nation of Islam and myself, we pray that Allah (God) will grant you a full and speedy recovery that you may resume your duty to the people of Cuba and the world. Also, on behalf of my family, the members of the Nation of Islam and myself, we wish you a happy belated birthday, and we pray that Allah (God) will bless you with many, many more.

Dear Commandante Castro, the idea of servicing the needs of the people rather than the idea of gaining material wealth is the essence of the revolution. This idea of service is the driving force in the Cuban Revolution that represents the seminal stage of what religious people of Christianity, Judaism and Islam call the Kingdom of God. I firmly believe that Allah (God) has chosen you and the Cuban people to begin this process of servicing human needs, thus setting the stage for all people of goodwill to emulate this mode of service to others. Jesus said, "He who would be the greatest among you let him be your servant." In this regard, you are one of the greatest leaders to emerge in the 20th Century, setting the foundation of a true example of service for all who will lead in the 21st Century.

In closing, you and the revolution you inspired have angered many people of wealth and status who have enriched themselves at the expense of the poor. I believe this is why Jesus told the people of His day: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."

Please remember what I said to you in our last meeting, that there is no such thing as death for Fidel Castro, for you are an idea whose time has arrived; and that idea is deep in the souls of most of the Cuban people and now in the hearts of many throughout the world. This idea will continue to grow and you will continue to grow with it from beyond the grave.

May Allah (God) continue to shower His Blessings on you and those who help you in the service of others.

Sincerely, and with much love and great respect,

I Am Your Brother and Servant,The Honorable Minister Louis FarrakhanServant to the Lost-FoundNation of Islam in the WestHMLF/sm

8) Who Started Terrorism in the Arab-Israeli Conflict?http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

Bombs in Cafes: first used by Zionists in Palestine on March 17th, 1937 in Jaffa.

Bombs on Buses: first used by Zionists in Palestine Aug. 20th-Sep. 26, 1937.

Bombs in Market Places: first used by Zionists on July 6th, 1938 in Haifa.

Bombing of Hotels: first used by Zionists on July 22nd, 1946 in Jerusalem.

Bombing of Foreign Embassies: first used by Zionists on October 1st, 1946 in Rome (against the British).

Mining of Ambulances: First used by Zionists on October 31st, 1946 in Petah Tikvah.

Letter Bombs: first used by Zionists in June 1947 against British targets in UK.

(for documentation, consult The Arab Women's Information Committee and The Institute for Palestine Studies, Who Are the Terrorists? Aspects of Zionist and Israeli Terrorism, (Beirut: Insitute for Palestine Studies, 1972).

/Dahr Jamail is an award-winning, independent journalist who reportedlive from Baghdad for eight months beginning in 2003. He is consideredone of the best sources on the War in Iraq. Recently, he returned to TheMiddle East, to Syria. While in Damascus, the conflict between Israeland Hizbollah began. Jamail left immediately for Beirut and sent dailydispatches from his Iraq-dispatches website. I received the chance tospeak to Jamail about what he saw during this 34-day conflict in themiddle East./

*Christopher Brown:* Dahr Jamail, it seems that in the media, this wholeconflict’s narrative started when Hizbollah captured two Israelisoldiers and killed several others, when in fact this was not the case.Can you speak about this?

*Dahr Jamail:* Yes it’s very clear and it’s quite well documented thatthere were meetings between Cheney and Netenyahu out in California overa year in advance of this. Also, other documented truth we could look towould be The Project for the New American Century (PNAC). Anyone can getonline, go to that website and read their plans for the Middle East andit states very clearly there as well as in another document called aclean break, a similar document to the PNAC where they talk aboutredrawing the lines in the Middle East and how they are going to goabout it. Iraq is the first step, the next step will be Lebanon; andthen the next step Iran, and then after that Syria. It is mentioned andwell documented in those sources that Israel would be going into Lebanon.

Now also other things we could look at is this is simply what occurredby the Hizbollah’s operation in early July, as the pretext is simply afabrication. Because in reality these types of skirmishes on the borderbetween Israel and Hizbollah, were a regular occurrence. Hizbollah hadfired rockets into Israel; they had attacked Israeli troops before. Sowhy did they wait for this particular time to launch this massivecollective punishment war of aggression against Lebanon? There areseveral factors that all point really clearly that this was a policythat they were waiting to enact and simply waiting for the right pretextto justify what they did.

*CB:* As the conflict mounted in the region, we here in the Westreceived information in regards to Israeli suffering by rockets fired byHizbollah and interviews with many innocent Israelis who had to hide outin bomb shelters. But only rarely did we get any first hand accountsabout innocent Lebanese victims and they’re troubles. Could you speakmore on the corporate media’s lack of fairness and accuracy regardingthis conflict?

*DJ:* Yes that is a really good point. The media coverage of this war ofaggression by Israel against Lebanon, I would say, is almost as bad asthe media coverage that is happening in Palestine, in Gaza, and the WestBank. Where it’s so incredibly biased. I would go so far as to say thatthe coverage of this war was even worse than the corporate mediacoverage that I’d seen of the US invasion of Iraq. It is off the chartsin terms of its bias and omissions in things along those lines and wecan cite example after example. For example, all the assumptions, theheavily biased assumptions, Western corporate media makes that Hizbollahis a terrorist organization. Well, they’re only referred to as aterrorist organization by the US, Israel, and the UK. Whereas in all ofthe Middle East, including in Lebanon, a country where they have theirbase, they are seen as a legitimate political party, a grassrootsorganization that employs over a quarter of a million people fullyengaged in infrastructure projects like hospitals, schools and socialwelfare programs.

And now after the Israeli aggression against Lebanon, Hizbollah enjoysover 90% support from the people of Lebanon, which is really off thecharts compared to the number prior to this invasion, which was around40 or 50%. That means that now, and this of course is not beingbroadcast in the corporate media, Hizbollah is enjoying the majoritysupport of the Christians, The Druze, and Sunni Arabs. Whereas prior tothis there was only a minority support from these groups.

Then we can just look at the coverage of the casualties; I bring upHizbollah being referred to as a terrorist organization over and over inthe corporate media. When we simply look at the statistics. We have over1,300 Lebanese killed by the Israeli war of aggression, over 90% ofthose civilians. And then we look at the other side where roughly 150Israelis died over 50% of those were soldiers. So just looking at thatstatistic alone, whose is the terrorist organization, or morespecifically who is the terrorist state?

And now, throughout the Middle East, Israel is being seen as theterrorist state rather than Hizbollah being in any way as a terroristorganization. And now, even in Lebanon, Hizbollah is being seen as therightful defenders of Lebanon against Israeli aggression. And this isbeing underscored again with Israel breaking the ceasefire agreement bythe UN when they launched a commando raid into the Bekka Valley, whichwas fought off by Hizbollah. Israel lost at least one soldier.

But, nevertheless, Israel, once again, broke the truce agreement; the UNresolution that they initially had been quite happy with; a resolutionthat even prompted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to call PresidentBush, after the UN resolution was penned up and backed by the US, andthank him for keeping Israeli interests in mind.

But that clearly wasn’t good enough for Israel. We’ve seen time and timeagain Israel doesn’t have any regard for international law. And how isthis being portrayed in the coverage? Where is the talk of war crimes?Where is the talk of the Geneva Conventions being broken time and timeagain by Israel when they’ve hit civilians; they’ve hit medicalinfrastructure, they’ve hit the ambulances and really don’t even try tohide this. Where is that in the coverage of this conflict?

*CB:* You mentioned the casualties of the Lebanese people. AlthoughHizbollah controls the South, Israel’s bombing campaign extended farinto the North of the country as well. Could you talk about what you sawon the ground while covering this conflict?

*DJ:* Yes. There are two really important points. The first is; thiswasn’t just an attack on Southern Lebanon and Southern Beirut whereHizbollah is known to have the majority of its support, but it was thecollective punishment of the entire country. Really, something that justamazed me in Lebanon watching the entire country being bombed intopre-industry while the World just sat by and the UN and Europeancountries just sat and watched and really didn’t do anything to stopthem from carrying out this war crime.

We’re talking about the Northern Border being hit; the city of Byblosbeing hit which is a predominately Christian city; the cities up in themountains, which are the Christian and Druze areas of Lebanon being hitrepeatedly; over 70 bridges being bombed; over 80 roads being bombed;milk factories, pharmaceutical plants, paper factories all being bombed;total collective punishment. Where all of Lebanon’s ports as well asairports were bombed, electrical structure all of this being bombed.Every one of these a violation of the Geneva Convention, and every oneof these fits the definition of collective punishment.

And then if we look at the targeting, the deliberate targeting, ofcivilians I was really horrified to see pretty quickly, from reportingfrom Lebanon, that this deliberate targeting of civilians and medicalinfrastructure, it wasn’t something that was happening here and there. Iquickly saw that this was a pattern: The pattern was that people wouldtry to huddle in their homes from Israeli bombs, and if they were luckyenough not to have their homes bombed, Israeli warplanes were leafletingvillages telling people to leave. Then when they got in they’re cars toleave; while flying white surrender flags, holding pillowcases or sheetsout the windows so as not too be bombed, they were being hit.

And then when the Lebanese red cross or the Lebanese Civil Defenseambulances tried to reach these people, they were being bombed. And thenoften times, secondary ambulances were sent help the first ambulancesthat were hit, they to were being bombed, this is something that I canspeak to after interviewing people in Qana the day after the massacrethere that killed 37 children and 24 other adults, who were very muchelderly people.

That attack occurred at 1am, and the Lebanese Red Cross, from the nearbycity of Tyre, who tried to reach them, got the first call at 5am anddispatched two ambulances, they were nearly bombed and had to turn back.So they waited until about 7am and tried again, and they were nearlybombed again and were kept away from Qana and had to turn back.

And they weren’t allowed to reach Qana until 9am. So because of thembeing kept away, which were the exact words used by the Red Cross peoplethat I interviewed; people who were in those ambulances who said; 'Wewere kept away by the Israeli military. And if we had been allowed toreach there when we first received the call, maybe we could have savedthe lives of a few more people.’

And this was the type of story I ran into repeatedly from thosecivilians and Red Cross workers. They felt they were being attackeddeliberately, civilians home were being destroyed; they were outraged;'Why are they hitting civilians? If they want to attack Hizbollah, okay.But why are they hitting civilians?’ and this is what I was hearing theentire time I was there.

*CB:* The US and Israel constantly stated that Syria and Iran needed tostop sending weapons to Hizbollah. And the corporate media picked upthis refrain. But there was no mention from any Western country, orMiddle Eastern country for the US to stop sending munitions to Israel.What are your thoughts on this?

*DJ:* This double standard and this bias, and I would go so far as tocall it this hypocritical racism, I think this falls under the"coverage" of this war; why weren’t media outlets asking the question;'Well if Israel and the US are accusing Iran and Syria of supplyingHizbollah, then what position are they in to do so?’

They are the ones who are supplying Israel with their fighter jets.Israel has the second largest fleet of F-16s on the planet second onlybehind the US. Israel has been the single largest recipient of USforeign aid since the early 1970s every single year. Right now, they arereceiving over 2 billion dollars, and possible over 3 billion dollarsevery single year, either in grants, direct aid, or military hardware inthe form of: F-16s, cluster bombs, jet fuel, tanks, laser guidedweapons, white phosphorus weapons, all this was used very extensively inSouthern Lebanon, and sometimes even in Southern Beirut.

The hypocrisy is really hard to understand. No media outlets in theWest, none of the major ones that I know of, have ever criticized the USfor supplying this unbridled financial, political and economic supportfor Israel. While certainly Hizbollah is using rockets from Iran, and isprobably getting other aid from Syria as well. But the bottom line isthat Israel is getting direct military aid unquestioned from the US aswell as helpful political and diplomatic aid from the EU by theirsilence. And none of this is ever questioned.

*CB:* You speak about the silence that permeated World leaders and theirgovernments had about Israel’s onslaught upon the Lebanese people. Whywas it that the folks in Congress here in the US condoned Israel’s rightto defend itself but never spoke of Lebanon having the same right afterit became clear that this was not about rescuing two soldiers, but moreabout bombing all of Lebanon?

Where was the outcry of the disproportionate use of force from Congressconcerning Israel actions?

*DJ:* Well I think this is when we have to look squarely at the factthat the US government and most of the US media is so heavily influencedby Jewish lobby groups like AIPAC. And it’s long past time that peoplein this country look squarely at this and see that their politicians areessentially owned by these Jewish lobby groups. This is not my opinion,this is fact.

Anyone can get online, do a little bit of research and pull up USpoliticians and which lobby groups they’re taking campaign contributionsfrom and I challenge anyone to find more than a handful of politicians,and I mean single digits, who have not taken some aid from Jewish lobbygroups. And we are talking about Republicans and Democrats alike.Everyone is being financed by them and therefore everyone is beholden tothem and the lobbyists pull the right strings the politicians move inthe right direction.

And those directions are in complete compliance with whatever the wishesof the State of Israel might be at the time. And that’s why, during thefirst week of this war in Lebanon, that there was something like amoment of silence in the US Congress. Where all the politicians stood upand had a moment of silence for poor little Israel. Poor little Israel,the only nuclear power in the Middle East; poor little Israel, with thefourth most powerful army in the World, only second to thattechnologically the United States it’s supplier, its Grandparent if youwill, as far as military support.

And this is the problem: that we have a government that will not act inthe best interests of the United States. They act, instead in thisentangled relationship of: What are the best interests of the State ofIsrael? And that trumps anything else, even following international law;even following the best policy for the United States, as opposed towhat’s the best policy for Israel. And if the United States getsentangled in this mess and loses standing in the eyes of the Worldpowers by its unbridled alliance for Israel, then that’s okay.

And that is what is going on and that is where light has to be shown andhas to be criticized heavily and we need massive reform there. And ofcourse the calls that will come out will be: 'well that’s anti-Semitic,that’s anti-Israel.’ Well, we just need to be prepared for that, thosewill come.

And it’s not anti-Semitic because in reality this alliance of violenceis detrimental to both the security of the US and Israel. This policywe’re watching is complete insanity and at the end of the day it isreally going to jeopardize the existence of the State of Israel, notIran, not Lebanon, not Hizbollah, not Hamas but this lunatic policy ofthis unbridled, this complete disregard for international law, this inthe end is going to jeopardize the existence to the State of Israel farmore than any perceived threat that could exist. And any US politicianthat doesn’t agree with that, and act appropriately, and makeappropriate changes, they probably shouldn’t be in office.

*CB:* At the beginning of the war, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert andDefense Minister Amir Peretz enjoyed approval ratings in the 90s fromthe Israeli public. But since it’s conclusion, those ratings havedropped to below 50% for both men.

Reserve soldiers sent a letter to Olmert questioning the purpose of thiswar. Other soldiers acknowledge that Hizbollah resistance fightersfought bravely in the face of superior fire power.

Faced, with very low approval ratings and an upcoming mid term electionin November, President Bush claimed victory for the State of Israel. Isthe US public buying any of this, or is Bush and Co., merely grasping atstraws?

*DJ:* Well, we have to look at the actions and what happens on theground as opposed to rhetoric and the propaganda coming out of the USand Israeli governments, especially regarding this situation. And if wesimply look at the facts; Israel stated goals for this war againstLebanon were:

1. To pressure the Lebanese people and the Lebanese government to turnagainst Hizbollah. To disarm them and push them away from the borderwith Israel. That was one stated goal. Clearly a dismal failure over 90%of the Lebanese and most of the Lebanese government support Hizbollahnow more than ever before. And certainly have no intention of disarmingthem or moving them away from the border with Israel.

2. To disarm Hizbollah and that, of course, did not happen and the UNappears unlikely to make strides in that direction and that of coursemeans that most people in Lebanon don’t want Hizbollah to disarm either.This is probably the only thing keeping Israel from occupying SouthernLebanon at this point.

3. To have they’re prisoners released. And they are no closer to havingthat happen then they were before they started dropping bombs overLebanon from North to South and East to West.

If anyone is stupid enough to look at those killed by each side as anindication of who won, that is really going to be misleading. Becauseclearly Israel killed over 1,000 civilians in Lebanon as if that is somesort of a victory. But if we look at that statistic, over 50% of thepeople that Hizbollah killed in South Lebanon were Israeli combatsoldiers, not civilians. I think that is the more important statistic.

And really the most important indicator we should probably look at isperception in the Middle East and around the World as to who won this.And I think that one of the solid indicators of who people think wonthis is what was cited in the Israeli press; less than 50% of Israelisapprove of the job Olmert is doing where less than two weeks ago hisapproval rating was around 90%.

That shows that even the people of Israel are very much aware of thefact that Israel lost this war; they did not come close to achievingtheir directive; and instead they have turned everyone in the MiddleEast against them; they have shown the true face of Israel; that it’s aState that is willing to sponsor terrorism to kill civilians on amassive scale, and still not achieve it’s goals.

And in fact now, I feel that Israel and they’re own security are in muchgreater danger now than they were before conflict. This myth of Israelhaving this all-powerful undefeatable military is gone. Just like whathappened to the US in Iraq. Where a few thousand people withKalishnakovs and RPGs can bog down the most powerful military on theplanet and are winning that war; well the same thing happened in Israel.

At the height of their ground invasion, the last 24 hours of theirground invasion into Southern Lebanon, they lost 40 troops in 24 hours.And they did leave Lebanon with they’re tail between their legs. And itreally just shows that this shock and awe air campaign is really uselessin a guerrilla war. They can drop tens of thousands of bombs on SouthernLebanon and they still can’t get in there and hold one city, even sixmiles into the country.

So it’s really shown they’re military is not capable of protecting theirown civilians; they are not successful at waging an invasion againstanother country; and now at the end of all of it, Israeli citizens feelthat less secure now then they did before this ever occurred. And Ithink that that should be the strongest indicator, especially when welook at the stated goals of Israel at the beginning of this war.

*CB:* Currently there is a fragile cease-fire in place. Is it youropinions that this will hold or what do you feel is in store for the future?

*DJ:* I don’t think this cease-fire will hold because of what we havespoke of Israel encroaching into Lebanon again. At a time of they’re ownchoosing and completely unprovoked. We can talk about that presenttense. Already this cease-fire has failed and at any time Israelmight…maybe even as we speak…they could be breaking this cease-fireagreement again. And I think that’s why it will fail.

Because Israel has complete disregard for UN resolutions. We only haveto look them breeching, I’m not sure how many, UN resolutions regardingwhat’s going on in the occupied territories. We need to remember thatthe first one to break this cease-fire was Israel and they’re may come apoint when Hizbollah does respond and then the corporate media willbegin to place the blame squarely on Lebanon’s shoulders.

I’m going to use a crude analogy to get my point across; I use to playbasketball and I was always taught that if you ever get fouled, don’tfoul you’re opponent back.

Because the one who responds is usually the one who is going to getcaught. And I think it’s kind of the same thing here. It is criticalthat Hizbollah not respond if they can at all avoid it. Because themedia is so biased and the international community is so biased; if theydo respond we could have another repeat of what we just saw now andprobably something much worse and more sustained. Because I really don’tsee Israel leaving this aside and not doing anything. They will continueto provoke until Hizbollah responds and then we will again see an allout war.

The charges leveled by the British, US and Pakistani regimes that they uncovered a major bomb plot directed against 9 US airlines is based on the flimsiest of evidence, which would be thrown out of any court, worthy of its name.

An analysis of the current state of the investigation raises a series of questions regarding the governments' claims of a bomb plot concocted by 24 Brits of Pakistani origin.

The arrests were followed by the search for evidence, as the August 12, 2006 Financial Times states: "The police set about the mammoth task of gathering evidence of the alleged terrorist bomb plot yesterday" (FT August 12/13 2006). In other words, the arrests and charges took place without sufficient evidence â€“ a peculiar method of operation â€“ which reverses normal investigatory procedures in which arrests follow the "monumental task of gathering evidence". If the arrests were made without prior accumulation of evidence â€“ what were the bases of the arrests?

The government search of financial records and transfers turned up no money trail despite the freezing of accounts. The police search revealed limited amounts of savings, as one would expect from young workers, students and employees from low-income immigrant families.

The British government, backed by Washington, claimed that the Pakistani government's arrest of two British-Pakistanis provided "critical evidence" in uncovering the plot and identifying the alleged terrorist. No Western judicial hearing would accept evidence procured by the Pakistani intelligence services that are notorious for their use of torture in extracting 'confessions'. The Pakistani dictatorship's evidence is based on a supposed encounter between a relative of one of the suspects and an Al Queda operative on the Afghan border. According to the Pakistani police, the Al Queda agent provided the relative and thus the accused with the bomb-making information and operative instructions. The transmission of bomb-making information does not require a trip half-way around the world, least of all to a frontier under military siege by US led forces on one side and the Pakistani military on the other. Moreover it is extremely dubious that Al Queda agents in the mountains of Afghanistan have any detailed knowledge of specific British airline security, procedures or conditions of operations in London. Lacking substantive evidence, Pakistani intelligence and their British counterparts touched all the propaganda buttons: A clandestine meeting with Al Queda, bomb-making information exchanges on the Pakistani-Afghan border, Pakistani-Brits with Islamic friends, family and terrorist connections in Englandâ€¦

US intelligence claimed and London repeated that sums of money had been wired from Pakistan to allow the plotters to buy airline tickets. Yet air tickets were found in only one residence (and the airline and itinerary were not stated by the police). None of the other suspects possessed plane tickets and some did not even have passports. In other words, the most preliminary moves in the so-called bomb plot had not been taken by the accused. No terrorist plot to bomb airplanes exists when the alleged conspirators are lacking travel funds, documents and tickets. It is not credible to argue that the alleged conspirators depended on instructions from distant handlers ignorant of the basic ground level conditions.

Initially the British and US authorities claimed that the explosive device was a 'liquid bomb' â€“ yet no liquid or non-liquid bomb was discovered on the premises or persons of any of the accused. Nor has any evidence been produced as to the capability of any of the suspects in making, moving or detonating the 'liquid bomb' â€“ a very volatile solution if handled by unskilled operatives. No evidence has been presented on the nature of the specific liquid bomb question, or any spoken discussion or written documents about the liquid bomb, which would implicate any of the suspects. No bottle, liquid or chemical formula has been found among any of the suspects. Nor have any of the ingredients that go into making the 'liquid bomb' been uncovered. Nor has any evidence been presented as to where the liquid was supposed to come from (the source) or whether it was purchased locally or overseas.

When the liquid bomb story was ridiculed into obscurity, British Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Peter Clark claimed that, "bomb making equipment including chemicals and electric components had been found" (BBC News 8/21/2006).

Once again there is no mention of what "electronic components" and "chemicals" were found, in whose home or office and if they might be related to non-bomb making activities. Were these so-called new bomb-making items owned by a specific person or group of persons, and if so were they known by the parties implicated to be part of a bombing plot. Moreover, when and why have the authorities switched from the liquid bombs to identifying old fashion electronic detonators? Is there any evidence â€“ documents or taped discussions that link these electronic detonators and chemicals with the specific plot to 'blow up 9 US bound airliners?'

Instead of providing relevant facts clearing up basic questions of names, dates, weapons, and travel dates, Commissioner Clark gives the press a laundry list of items which could be found in millions of homes and the large number of buildings searched (69 so far). If stair climbing earns promotions, Clark should be nominated for a Knightship. According to Clark the police discovered more than 400 computers, 200 mobile telephones, 8,000 computer media items (items as catastrophic as memory sticks, CDs and DVDs); police removed 6,000 gigabytes of data from the seized computers (150 from each computer) and a few video recordings. One presumes, in the absence of any qualitative data demonstrating that the suspects were in fact preparing bombs in order to destroy 9 US airliners, that Commissioner Clark is seeking public sympathy for his minion's enormous capacity to lift and remove electronic equipment from one site to another in up to 69 buildings. This is a notable achievement if we are talking about a moving company and not a high powered police investigation of an event of 'catastrophic consequences'.

Some of the suspects were arrested because they have traveled to Pakistan at the beginning of the school year holidays. British and US authorities forget to mention that tens of thousands of Pakistani ex-pats return to visit family at precisely that time of year.

The wise guys on Wall Street and The City of London never took the liquid bomb plot seriously: At no point did the Market respond, nose-dive, crash or panic. The announced plot to bomb airlines was ignored by all Big Players on the US and London stock markets. In fact, petrol prices dropped slightly. In contrast to 9/11 and the Madrid and London bombings (to which this plot is compared) the stock market 'makers' were not impressed by the governments' claims of a 'major catastrophe'. George Bush or Tony Blair, who were informed and discussed the 'liquid bomb plot' several days beforehand, didn't even skip a day of their vacations, in response to the catastrophic threat.

And each and every claim and piece of 'evidence' put forth by the police and the Blair and Bush security authorities runs a cropper. Some of the alleged suspects are released, and new equally paltry 'evidence' is breathlessly presented: two tape recordings of 'martyr messages' were found in the computer of one suspect, which, we are told, foretold a planned terrorist attack. The Clark team claimed with great aplomb that they found one or a few martyr videotapes, without clarifying the fact that the videos were not made by the suspects but viewed by them. Many people the world over pay homage to suicide martyrs to a great variety of political causes. Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan visits a shrine dedicated to World War Two military dead â€“ including Kamikaze suicide pilots, defying Chinese and Korean protests. Millions of US citizens and politicians pay homage to the war heroes in Arlington cemetery each year, some of whom deliberately sacrificed their lives in order to defend their comrades, their flag and the justice of their cause. It should be of no surprise that Asians, Muslims and others should collect videos of anti-Israeli or anti-occupation martyrs. In none of the above cases where people honor martyrs is there any police attempt to link the reverent observer with future suicide bomb plots â€“ except if they are Muslims. Hero worship of fallen fighters is a normal everyday phenomenon â€“ and is certainly no evidence that the idolaters are engaged in murderous activity.

A 'martyr message' is neither a plot, conspiracy or action â€“ it is only an _expression of free speech â€“ one might add, 'internal speech' (between the speaker and his computer) which might at some future time become public speech. Are we to make private dialogue a terrorist offense?

As the legal time limit expires on the holding of suspects without charges, the British authorities released two suspects, charged eleven and eleven others continue to be held without charges, probably because there is no basis for proceeding further. As the number of accused plotters thin out in England, Clark and company have deflected attention to a world-wide plot with links to Spain, Italy, the Middle East and elsewhere. Apparently the logic here is that a wider net compensates for the large holes. In the case at hand, of the eleven who have been remanded to trial, only eight have been charged with conspiracy to prepare acts of terrorism; the other three are accused of 'not disclosing information' (or being informersâ€¦of what?) and 'possessing articles useful to a person preparing acts of terrorism' (BBC News 8/21/06). Since no bombs have been found and no plans of action have been revealed, we are left with the vague charge of 'conspiracy', which can mean a hostile private discussion directed against US and British subjects by several like-thinking individuals. The reason that it appears that ideas and not actions are in question is because the police have not turned up any weapons or specific measures to enter into the locus of attack (air tickets to board planes, passports and so on). How can suspects be charged with failing to disclose information, when the police lack any concrete information pertaining to the alleged bomb plot. The fact that the police are further diluting their charges against three more plotters is indicative of the flimsy basis of their original arrests and public claims. To charge a 17 year-old boy with 'possessing articles useful to a person preparing acts of terrorism' is so open-ended as to be laughable: Did the article have other uses for the boy or for his family (like a box cutter). Did he 'possess' written articles because they were informative or fascinating to a young person?" Since he still possessed the article, he had not passed these articles to any person making bombs. Did he know of any specific plans to make bombs or any bomb-makers? The charges could implicate anyone possessing and reading a good spy novel or science fiction thriller in which bomb making is discussed. The eleven have already pleaded innocent; the trial will begin in due time. The government and mass media have already convicted the accused in the electronic and print media. Panic has been sown. Fear and hysterical anger is present in the long security lines at airports and train stationsâ€¦Asian men quietly saying prayers are being pulled off of airplanes and planes diverted or airports evacuated.

The bomb plot hoax has caused enormous losses (in the hundreds of millions of dollars) to the airlines, business people, oil companies, duty free shops, tourist agencies, resorts and hotels, not to speak of the tremendous inconvenience and health related problems of millions of stranded and stressed travelers. The restrictions on lap top computers, travel bags, accessories, special foods and liquid medicines have added to the 'costs' of traveling.

Clearly the decision to cook up the phony bomb plot was not motivated by economic interests, but domestic political reasons. The Blair administration, already highly unpopular for supporting Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was under attack for his unconditional support for Israel's invasion of Lebanon, his refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire and his unstinting support for Bush's servility to US Zionist lobbies. Even within the Labor party over a hundred backbenchers were speaking out against his policies, while even junior cabinet ministers such as Prescott stated that Boss Bush's foreign policy smelled of the barnyard. Bush was not yet cornered by his colleagues in the same way as Blair, but unpopularity was threatening to lead his Republican party to congressional defeat and possible loss of a majority of seats.

According to top security officials in England, Bush and Blair were 'knowledgeable' about the investigation into a possible 'liquid bomb' plot. We know that Blair gave the go-ahead for the arrests, even as the authorities must have told him they lacked the evidence and at best it was premature. Some reports from British police insiders claim that the Bush Administration pushed Blair for early arrests and the announcement of the 'liquid bomb' plot. Security officials then launched a massive, all-out 'terror propaganda' campaign designed to capture the attention and support of the public with the total support of the mass media. The security-mass media campaign served its objective â€“ Bush's popularity increased, Blair avoided censure and both continued on their vacations.

The bomb plot political ploy fits the previous political pattern of sacrificing capitalist economic interests to serve domestic political and ideological positions. Foreign policy failures lead to domestic political crimes, just as domestic policy crises lead to aggressive military expansion.

The criminal frame-up of young Muslim-South Asian British citizens by the British security officials was specifically designed to cover up for the failed Anglo-American invasion of Iraq and the Anglo-American backing for Israel's destructive but failed invasion of Lebanon. Blair's 'liquid bombers' plot' sacrificed a multiplicity of British capitalist interests in order to retain political offices and stave off an unceremonious early exit from power. The costs of failed militarism are borne by citizens and businesses.

In an analogous fashion Bush and his Zioncon and other militarists exploited the events of 9/11 to pursue a militarist multi-war strategy in Southwest Asia and the Middle East. With time and scientific research, the official version of the events of 9/11 have come under serious questioning â€“ both regarding the collapse of one of the towers in New York, as well as the explosions in the Pentagon. The events of 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq sacrificed major US economic interests: Losses in New York, tourism, airline industry and massive physical destruction; losses in terms of a major increase in oil prices and instability, increasing the costs to US, European and Asian consumers and industries.

Likewise the Israeli military invasion of Gaza and Lebanon, backed by the US and Great Britain, were economically costly destroying property, investments and markets, while raising the level of mass anti-imperial opposition.

In other words, the politics of US, British and Israeli (and by extension World Zionist) militarism has been at the expense of strategic sectors of the civilian economy. These losses to key economic sectors require the civilian-militarists to resort to domestic political crimes (phony bomb plots and frame-up trials) to distract the public from their costly and failed policies and to tighten political control. On both counts, the civilian militarists and the Zioncons are losing ground. The 'liquid bomb' plot is unraveling, Israel is in turmoil, the Zioncons are preaching to the converted, and the US is, as always, the United States: The Democratic civilian militarist are capitalizing on the failures of their incumbent colleagues.

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11) Open Letter to James Petras re his article, "The Liquid Bomb Hoax: The Larger Implications," by Bonnie Weinstein.

Dear James,

In your article, "The Liquid Bomb Hoax: The Larger Implications," you stated at the end:

"In other words, the politics of US, British and Israeli (and by extension World Zionist) militarism has been at the expense of strategic sectors of the civilian economy."

But in an interview in March 1995 entitled, "Jesse Helms: Setting the Record Straight" that appeared in the Middle East Quarterly, Helms said, "I have long believed that if the United States is going to give money to Israel, it should be paid out of the Department of Defense budget. My question is this: If Israel did not exist, what would U.S. defense costs in the Middle East be? Israel is at least the equivalent of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Middle East. Without Israel promoting its and America's common interests, we would be badly off indeed."(Jesse Helms was the senior senator from North Carolina and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time.)http://www.meforum.org/article/244

I quote this because I think it is crucial to be crystal clear about "the cart and the horse." Your statement implies that it's World Zionist Militarism that has control over the U.S., and not the other way around. Capitalism is a game of power and control and the one with the biggest gun wins. Or at least that's the plan and the purpose of the most powerful military force the world has ever seen--the U.S. Military! That's why all the wealth produced by the toiling masses of working people--citizen and non-citizen alike--gouged out of wages and collected in taxes--is being funneled into military and defense spending and only the spare change is left over for all other social services and societal needs.

The whole world is against Israel. They would be an easy target but for the U.S. It is exactly the U.S. capitalist, imperialist interests that Israel is designed and maintained to protect AND expand on--U.S. Capital wants to control the whole Middle East as they already do much of the world and its resources already.

Unfortunately, many Jewish people have been taken in by the whole thing. Many Jewish people alive today do not know that Jews were turned away from U.S. and European soil at the time they were most in need of escaping fascist extermination. They do not know that Jewish people, in their desperation, were, in essence, coerced into going to Palestine--they had no other choice and the Zionists played into their desperation and the U.S. funded the whole thing.

The wealthy U.S. elite had plans, yes indeed. We are in danger now of falling further backwards toward barbarism by blaming a scapegoat, i.e., all Jewish people, for the crisis the world faces today. That is why the U.S. Government even bothers to maintain their "independence" from Israel as if it isn't in control of the whole dynamic. Anti-Semitism is, so to speak, the U.S. elite's "failsafe." They can step in, if necessary, and blame "World Zionist Militarism" for the strife then officially and openly take the helm of domination of all of the Middle East.

That is what capitalism is. It is the political, economic and military mechanism for the ultimate domination of thewealthiest over the masses of poor across the globe. They rule by force of violence and they own and control not only the bulk of the wealth and resources, they also own the most powerful weapons of mass destruction the world has ever seen--they are world-killers and will stop at nothing to preserve their place of wealth, power and domination. But, and this is a big "but", they would have no power at all if their games of racism, sexism, classism, religious and ethnic bigotry--all their tools to divide and conquer--didn't work.

But today, we, the masses are divided and conquered--worker has been turned against worker. The capitalists actually maintain a united front amongst themselves and against we, the people of the world. They make laws that tax the poor and reward the wealthy and we,the working people, foot the bill.

That is why it is so crucial to expose the real root of the problem--capitalism--not Zionism. Zionism is just another capitalist tool of divide and conquer. And, clearly, the U.S. capitalist regime is at the helm of world capitalism today and they are overwhelmingly Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Born Again rich white males--the 1948 birth of the illegal state of Zionist Israel would not even exist without them and their coffers and their ultimate goals.

We, the people, are only as strong as our weakest link and our firm realization that an injury to one of us is an injury to all. We all have common interests. We have a right to the pursuit of happiness--to live a life of freedom, with liberty, equality, democracy and justice for all.

End all U.S. Aid to Israel! U.S. Out of the Middle East! Stop the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine! Bring all the troops home now!Money for human needs and justice for all.

Arjan Roskam, the creator of the award-winning marijuana blend named “Arjan’s Haze,” has dozens of pictures of celebrity visitors on the wall of his coffee shop in Amsterdam. He’s got Eminem, Lenny Kravitz, Alicia Keys, Mike Tyson — but so far, unfortunately, not a single White House drug czar.

The czars have preferred to criticize from afar. In the past, they’ve called Dutch drug policy “an unmitigated disaster,” bemoaning Amsterdam’s “stoned zombies” and its streets cluttered with “junkies.” Anti-pot passion has only increased in the Bush administration, which has made it a priority to combat marijuana.

More than half a million Americans are arrested annually for possessing it. The Bush administration can’t even abide it being used for medical purposes by the terminally ill. Why risk having any of it fall into the hands of young people who could turn into potheads, crack addicts and junkies?

But if America’s drug warriors came here, they would learn something even if they didn’t sample any of the dozens of varieties of marijuana sold legally in specially licensed coffee shops. They could see that the patrons puffing on joints generally don’t look any more zombielike than the crowd at an American bar — or, for that matter, a Congressional subcommittee listening to a lecture on the evils of marijuana.

And if they talked to Peter Cohen, a Dutch researcher who has been studying drug use for a quarter-century, they would discover something even more disorienting. Even though marijuana has been widely available since the 1970’s, enough to corrupt a couple of generations, the Netherlands has not succumbed to reefer madness.

The Dutch generally use drugs less than Americans do, according to national surveys in both countries (and these surveys might understate Americans’ drug usage, since respondents are less likely to admit illegal behavior). More Americans than Dutch reported having tried marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Among teenagers who’d tried marijuana, Americans were more likely to be regular users.

In a comparison of Amsterdam with another liberal port city, San Francisco, Cohen and other researchers found that people in San Francisco were nearly twice as likely to have tried marijuana. Cohen isn’t sure exactly what cultural and economic factors account for the different usage patterns in America and the Netherlands, but he’s confident he can rule out one explanation.

“Drug policy is irrelevant,” says Cohen, the former director of the Center for Drug Research at the University of Amsterdam. It’s quite logical, he says, to theorize that outlawing drugswould have an impact, but experience shows otherwise, both in America and in some European countries with stricter laws than the Netherlands but no less drug use.

The good news about drugs, Cohen says, is that the differences among countries aren’t all that important — levels of addiction are generally low in America as well as in Europe. The bad news is that the occasional drug fad get hyped into a crisis that leads to bad laws.

“Prohibition does not reduce drug use, but it does have other impacts,” he says. “It takes up an enormous amount of police time and generates large possibilities for criminal income.”

In the Netherlands, that income goes instead to coffee-shop owners and to the government, which exacts heavy taxes. It also imposes strict regulations on what goes on in the coffee shop, including who can be served (no minors) and how much can be sold (five grams to a customer). Any unruly behavior or public disturbances can quickly close down a shop.

To avoid problems at the Green House, Roskam has closed-circuit cameras and a staff that urges novices to stick with small doses, and to protect their lungs by taking hits from a vaporizer. Unlike street buyers in America, customers know exactly what strength they’re getting, which is especially useful for the hundreds of people with multiple sclerosis and other ailments who use his marijuana medicinally.

Roskam sneers at the street products in the United States, which he considers overpriced and badly blended. But he acknowledges there’s one feature in the American market he can’t compete with.

“Drugs are just less interesting here,” he said. “One of my best friends here never smoked cannabis, never wanted to even try my products. Then when she was 32 she went to America on holiday and smoked for the first time. I asked her why, and she said: ‘It was more fun over there. It was illegal.’ ”

INTERVIEW: Chomsky on Lebanon and Iran (August 2006) Written by Jim O. Madison Thursday, 24 August 2006In an interview posted Aug. 16 on the CounterPunch web site, Noam Chomsky spoke extensively about Lebanon, but also about Iran.[1] -- "[T]o the outside world," Chomky noted, "it sounds a bit odd, to put it mildly, for the U.S. and Israel to be warning of the 'Iranian threat' when they and they alone are issuing threats to launch an attack, threats that are immediate and credible, and in serious violation of international law, and are preparing very openly for such an attack. Whatever one thinks of Iran, no such charge can be made in their case. It is also apparent to the world, if not to the U.S. and Israel, that Iran has not invaded any other countries, something that the U.S. and Israel have done regularly." -- Asked about what will come next in the Middle East, Chomsky replies: "I do not know of anyone foolhardy enough to predict." http://www.counterpunch.org/chomsky08162006.html

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In British Inquiry, a Family Caught in 2 WorldsBy IAN FISHER and SERGE F. KOVALESKIAugust 20, 2006http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/world/europe/20family.html?ref=world

FOCUS | US Names Spy Operations 'Manager' for Cuba, VenezuelaThe United States has named a special "manager" for its intelligence operations against Cuba and Venezuela, in effect putting the two Latin American nations on a par with "axis of evil" states confronted on multiple levels by the administration of President George W. Bush.http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081906X.shtml

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Truce Strained as Israelis Raid Site in LebanonBy ROBERT F. WORTH and JOHN KIFNERAugust 20, 2006http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/world/middleeast/20lebanon.html?hp&ex=1156046400&en=29d5a780e1d505a5&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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Hey Folks, Throw TO a Bone!Thursday 17 August 2006Wow - it's hard to get donations from our readers. The same people help out month after month, and they're the only ones who keep Truthout going. Help them, help us, help you. TIA! Just click this link for our secure donation form:https://secure.entango.com/donate/pkXd5Fr9GE4?mail

VIDEO | Dahr Jamail on Iraq and LebanonA Film by Geoffrey Millard and Sari GelzerIndependent reporter Dahr Jamail speaks with Truthout's Geoffrey Millard in Seattle at the Veterans for Peace Convention, where he was invited to speak about his time in Iraq and, because of recent events, in Lebanon.Jamail went to Iraq because he said the coverage by corporate news was insufficient. Jamail presents his take on Iraq's civil war and politics, Lebanon's humanitarian crisis, Hezbollah's increased popularity, US/Iran relations, and the peace movement in America.http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm

VIDEO | Keith Olbermann: Terror and Politics in AmericaKeith Olbermann does a stunning job of laying out a five year history of Bush administration Terror Alerts that came at moments when the administration may have wanted to change the subject.http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm

Sarah Olson | Iraq War Vets' Support for Lt. Watada Growing"Geoffrey Millard is a sergeant in the Army National Guard and has no problem speaking publicly or supporting Lieutenant Watada," writes Sarah Olson. "He says GI resistance is a growing trend. 'American GIs are beginning to respect the Nuremberg principles. They are resisting orders; they are going to jail, going to Canada, and going AWOL. And they're talking about why they're doing it.'"http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081606A.shtml

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Coffee as a Health Drink? Studies Find Some BenefitsBy NICHOLAS BAKALARCoffee is not usually thought of as health food, but a number of recent studies suggest that it can be a highly beneficial drink. Researchers have found strong evidence that coffee reduces the risk of several serious ailments, including diabetes, heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver.August 15, 2006http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/health/nutrition/15coff.html?ex=1155960000&en=6ff9232d72ee0e4f&ei=5087%0A

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A Debt UnpaidNew York Times EditorialVieques, a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico, made headlines a few years back when environmental activists engaged in civil disobedience aimed at forcing the Navy to stop using it for bombing practice. The Navy bowed to the pressure and departed in May 2003, leaving behind 60 years worth of bomb fragments and an untold amount of unexploded ordnance.August 17, 2006http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/opinion/17thur3.html?hp

Hezbollah Leads Work to Rebuild, Gaining StatureBy JOHN KIFNERIn his victory speech on Monday night, Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, offered money for “decent and suitable furniture” and a year’s rent on a house to any Lebanese who lost his home in the month-long war.August 16, 2006http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/16/world/middleeast/16hezbollah.html

Lt. Watada's Mother: My Son Needs Your SupportCarolyn Ho, mother of conscientious objector Lt. Ehren Watada, asks for support during her son's pre-trial hearing on Aug 17 and 18. "Whether or not he is permitted to submit evidence supporting his refusal to deploy and his first amendment rights remains to be seen," she says. "Nevertheless, the military must know that the world is watching and that justice must be served."http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081506R.shtml

Judge's Insurance Ruling Could Affect Hundreds of Katrina VictimsA federal judge ruled Tuesday that an insurance company's policies do not cover damage from wind-driven water in a decision that could affect hundreds of upcoming cases related to property damage from Hurricane Katrina.http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081506S.shtml

Mexico Poll Protests Turn ViolentFor the first time, Mexican riot police fired tear gas and used clubs to break up a protest by supporters of presidential challenger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Some lawmakers were among at least 30 people injured in the scuffles outside Congress in Mexico City.http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081506T.shtml

Returning to Their Devastated Homes, the People of Lebanon Claim Victoryhttp://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0815-09.htm

US Sending 300 Newly Returned Troops Back to Iraqhttp://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0815-03.htm

Veterans picnic with U.S. troops who have taken refuge in Canada at borderBy Jeff Paterson. August 13, 2006http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/08/14/18297229.php

Governors Oppose Federal Control of GuardThe nation's governors, protesting what they call an unprecedented shift in authority from the states to the federal government, will urge Congress today to block legislation that would allow the president to take control of National Guard forces in the event of a natural disaster or a threat to homeland security.http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081406R.shtml

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Military’s Discharges for Being Gay Rose in ’05By JOHN FILESWASHINGTON, Aug. 14 — The Defense Department discharged 726 service members last year for being gay, up about 10 percent from 2004, figures released by a gay rights group show.August 15, 2006http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/washington/15discharge.html

Tracing a Trail of Destruction: Report from Lebanon, August 13, 2006BEIRUT, Lebanon - The wounds of war were evident shortly after we crossedthe Syria-Lebanon border at 1130 in the morning on August 12. At Haissa,about three kilometers from the Dabboussiyeh border crossing, we comeacross the ruins of a bridge hit by Israeli war planes just the daybefore. Villagers tell us 12 people were killed and 10 wounded, allcivilians.http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/1732058.php

An Interview with Dr. Ismail Zayid, President of the Canadian Palestinian AssociationIsrael‚s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from 1947 to thepresent has caused monumental devastation to the exiled, those hundreds ofthousands who were forced from their homes and never allowed to return.Dr. Ismail Zayid‚s family suffered this unspeakable horror in 1967 whentheir village of Beit Nuba was erased from the face of the earth byIsraeli bulldozers.http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/1732055.php

Filipinos oppose U.S. Israeli AggressionThe U.S. imperialists and their Zionist executioners are mistaken inthinking that the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples are easy prey for theyare anything but easy pushovers. Puppet Arroyo is also mistaken inthinking that the Filipino people will allow her to get away with her ownUS-propped war of terror against them. Like the valiant resistance inLebanon, Palestine and Iraq, the world will eventually see the Filipinopeople rise up to oust their tyrant from power.http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/1732054.php

Rogue Israeli State Protested at White House RallyWhat are people of conscience suppose to do in response to theunspeakable acts of barbarism being perpetrated daily by Israel? InAmerica, they can still go out on the streets and protest. This is whathappened on Sat., Aug. 12, 2006, in Washington, D.C. A rally at LafayettePark, near the White House, organized by Arab-Americans, protested therelentless terror bombing of innocent civilians in Gaza and Lebanon by theIsraeli Occupation Forces (IOF). (includes JPEG image)http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/1732053.php

FOCUS | Seymour M. Hersh: Watching Lebanon According to Seymour Hersh, President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were convinced, current and former intelligence and diplomatic officials told me, that a successful Israeli Air Force bombing campaign against Hezbollah's heavily fortified underground-missile and command-and-control complexes in Lebanon could ease Israel's security concerns and also serve as a prelude to a potential American pre-emptive attack to destroy Iran's nuclear installations, some of which are also buried deep underground.http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081306Y.shtml

Robert Fisk: As the 6am ceasefire takes effect... the real war beginsPublished: 14 August 2006http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article1219037.ece

‘None of the Above’ Stricken From BallotBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESSAugust 13, 2006NASHVILLE, Aug. 12 (AP) — A man running for governor and the United States Senate does not have the right to use his middle name, None of the Above, on the November ballot, a court ruled Friday.The candidate, David Gatchell, filed a lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court after the State Election Commission voted to bar his middle name from the ballot. The court handles lawsuits against state agencies.Chancellor Carol McCoy also ruled that Mr. Gatchell’s effort to add an issue-oriented notification on the ballot was against state law. And Ms. McCoy said the state had no constitutional requirement to place candidates’ full names on ballots.Mr. Gatchell, who changed his middle name from Leroy, said he would appeal. He argued that several state candidates, like Walt Combat Ward and Carl Twofeathers Whitaker, had been allowed to include their nicknames on ballots, and that his middle name was widely known.http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/washington/13tennessee.html

Bush Proposes Retroactive War Crime Protectionhttp://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081006A.shtmlThe Bush administration drafted amendments to the War Crimes Act that would retroactively protect policymakers from possible criminal charges for authorizing any humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees, according to lawyers who have seen the proposal. The move by the administration is the latest effort to deal with treatment of those taken into custody in the war on terror.

Hizballah: A PrimerLara DeebJuly 31, 2006, 11 pages(Lara Deeb, a cultural anthropologist, is assistant professor of women’s studies at the University of California-Irvine. She is author of An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi’i Lebanon.)Hizballah, the Lebanese Shi’i movement whose militia is fighting the Israeli army in south Lebanon, has been cast misleadingly in much media coverage of the ongoing war. Much more than a militia, the movement is also a political party that is a powerful actor in Lebanese politics and a provider of important social services. Not a creature of Iranian and Syrian sponsorship, Hizballah arose to battle Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon from 1982-2000 and, more broadly, to advocate for Lebanon’s historically disenfranchised Shi’i Muslim community. While it has many political opponents in Lebanon, Hizballah is very much of Lebanon -- a fact that Israel’s military campaign is highlighting.http://www.merip.org/mero/mero073106.html

FOCUS | Baghdad Morgue Tallies 1,815 Bodies in JulyFigures compiled by the city morgue indicated Wednesday that the number of killings in the Iraqi capital reached a new high last month, and the US military said a new effort to bring security to Baghdad will succeed only if Iraqis "want it to work." The Baghdad morguetook in 1,815 bodies during July, according to the facility's assistant manager, Abdul Razzaq al-Obeidi. The previous month's tally was 1,595. Obeidi estimated that as many as 90 percent of the total died violent deaths.http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081006Z.shtml